The season where high school kids explore UCLA is back. I love
to watch them, wide-eyed and hopeful. “Look,” they
whisper, “college students.” “Look,” we
think, “high school students.”
In a way, they’re right to gawk. The college student is an
amazing creature. We’ve got fresh perspectives on the world,
and we’re old enough to be taken seriously (though we could
always stand to benefit from a little more wisdom). Sometimes we
feel like we can’t change a thing; sometimes we feel like we
can change it all.
That’s why I cringe when I watch the high school kids, and
then the college kids, and sometimes I see little difference
between the two.
After a couple years here, it becomes easy to forget that, along
with our introduction to the independence of adulthood, there comes
massive responsibilities we need to live up to for ourselves and
for others.
I don’t mean just turning in papers on time or studying
instead of going out with friends. I mean active participation in a
world we will soon inherit, starting with the world we are most
directly in contact with: the university.
My form of participation is my attempt to spark and develop
ideas in this university system. One of the major differences I
hope there is between that youth and this adulthood is the quality
of our communication.
In my attempts to bring a new slant on old ideas, I hoped people
would step outside their point of view for a moment and try to
understand the concept from mine. When I got replies to my columns,
I tried to return the favor.
That is the only way to read (or hear) opinion. Without serious
readers and a serious columnist, this column ““ and others
like it ““ become a mere rant. The writers and the readers
become individuals wrapped up in their own understandings of
things, shouting at the walls.
It all becomes a form of bad entertainment, filed away with the
likes of reality TV.
In terms of communication, I suggest you always ask clarifying
questions about the things we would most take for granted. Whenever
anyone uses an easy, trendy word to describe something, we need to
be responsible listeners and make sure we understand what that
person means. Only then will our conversations come closer to
clarity.
Communication, much like everything else in life, is what you
make of it. Better communication leads to better education. Thus,
the education here at UCLA is what we make of it.
There is a reason why the top universities are able to boast of
a better quality of education. It’s because going into those
schools, we expect more and work harder for it. We are the reasons
those schools can boast of such challenging programs.
The better educated we are now, the better we (and by extension,
the world) will be in the future. So, exhausted as we might be,
lazy as we might feel, we must always continue to challenge
ourselves.
Take that harder but more fulfilling class. Balance it with
something easier so you’re not overworking yourself. Force
the professor, the administration, the grad student to expect more
of you. Communicate with them. Go to office hours.
Read the Daily Bruin looking for that twist. Understand where
the writer is coming from. Expect more of your friends. Then call
people on it ““ whether it be professor, columnist or friend
““ when they don’t live up to those expectations.
Just getting by is something we could do in high school.
We’ve moved on from that.
If we don’t set a higher standard for ourselves and
others, we’re just kids with a late curfew.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not paying thousands
of dollars to go to an extension of high school.
We’ve got more responsibilities now. But responsibility
doesn’t have to be synonymous with boredom or stress, either.
The best person is the one who can have fun being responsible.
I strove to fulfill that responsibility this past year ““
to challenge myself and those reading my columns. And hopefully to
entertain people in the process. I was challenged along the way,
and I thank you all for that. I hope we can all continue to
challenge one another, and validate one another in the process.
And next time a high school student stares at you wide-eyed,
smile.
Hashem communicates in colors of English and sociology.
E-mail her at nhashem@media.ucla.edu.