I was set free in English 101.
As a shy, insecure girl, I walked into the first college class of my life. My transition from the conservative environment of homeschooling to the expansive nature of community college was enlightening.
My English teacher was a very forward woman with blatant humor and crazy blond curls. She was brazen, she was confident and she opened me up to a world of knowledge, understanding and possibility.
People say that college and the structure of school doesn’t make us love learning. Well, it isn’t meant to. No program can do that. College does, however, open us up to a world of learning of which we can choose to take advantage.
This week, I sat down to write another Talon article on something trivial that college students don’t like about their college experience. Then I stepped back.
We should stop complaining, because the mere fact that we get to go to college and pursue an education makes us better off than a lot of people in this world. The mere fact that we can exercise our religion without fear of discrimination is humongous.
After generations of women unable to quench their curiosity because of male domination and sexism, I am fortunate enough to live in a time and place where I can learn anything I could possibly want to learn. I can literally be anything I want to be.
My second year of junior college was even better. I enrolled in a poetry class with the same English teacher who taught my English 101, 102 and World Literature classes the previous year.
Sitting in that class with people from completely different backgrounds than me was so rewarding. I could connect with those people through their poems and thoughts. I could see a glimpse into the others’ lives. College can do this. College can enlighten us if we choose to let it.
That shy girl went on to become the blog writer for Oklahoma Christian University’s literary arts journal, Soundings. That shy girl who barely talked to her family is now a reporter and editor for the Talon who conducts interviews with strangers every week. The girl who was always known as “quiet” performed an original piano and vocal composition for over 2,000 people.
College allowed me to do that.
For a long time I was stuck in a cage. That cage is called ignorance. We’ve all been inside of it and peered through the bars, wondering what life would bring us.
But life doesn’t bring us anything. College doesn’t bring us anything. All college does is open the cage. All you have to do is choose to fly.
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