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College classes aren’t that hard. As a fearless high school senior, I remember being terrified of “real” college classes. Going off to a far away land to learn everything there is to know and then some was my only fear in the world. After four years of sparingly reading textbooks, taking tests and writing papers, I’ve learned a fair amount of quality information. I might not go on Jeopardy next week, but I feel smarter than I did four years ago. But I hesitate to give credit to classes at the University of Maine, because that’s not where I’ve learned the most.
The learning in the classroom has its value but also its limits. The learning that takes place outside the classroom is much more invaluable. It’s a sense of knowledge and awareness about the world that can’t come from anywhere else except a college campus. The old “it doesn’t matter what you major in, as long as you get your degree” saying is right. It doesn’t matter. What matters is putting in many (for some of us, it’s four) years of work toward one goal and finishing, despite all the obstacles that are presented. In my college years I’ve learned how to work with people, care for people and talk, listen and learn with people. I’ve always vowed to stay a kid at heart, but somewhere along the line I grew up a little.
It all starts in the dorms when you learn to live alone. Then, after those first few trips back to see the family, living away from them is the only way to go. From that first day on campus when I said goodbye to my mom and put her on the plane back home, until the day I brought that special girl home to meet her, those times will always be treasured. The monotony of a baseball practice became the past and evolved into never-ending production nights at the paper. It’s the memories, friends and good times that seniors will take away with them, not their overpriced textbooks.
So now I’ll have a degree. So what? I may go right into the real world or I might wait. It doesn’t matter because either way I’ll be telling stories of the college years. Stories about locker room conversations with the boys, roommates’ tales, the weekend party scene and more importantly, the weekday parties-it’s the little things that count. The lessons that being in college can teach will make a person successful, regardless of his or her GPA.
Graduating seniors all have stories they’ll hold dear for many years, long after the information from their last classes fades away. A smart teacher once told me that true knowledge is what you remember after you’ve forgotten what you’ve learned. I’ll forget some of what I learned in class, but I won’t ever forget the memories and that’s what counts for every senior.
I guess leaving such a place as college is kind of like the MasterCard commercials. Four years of out-of-state tuition-$50,000; accruing debt owed to credit card companies-$1,500 and counting; Gas money for the last ride home to Colorado-$300; Being better off for the people you’ve met and the goals you’ve reached-priceless.
John Contreraz is a senior journalism major.
