Friday
Editor in chief: Jack Clifford
Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard
Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Room 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu
EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com
COLLEGE:
enjoy it or get out
DIARY OF A
MALCONTENT
MICHAEL J. KLECKNER
I have to say, all occasional
whining aside, I’m really pret
ty happy with my education at
the University so far. I’ve found
my major courses, in journalism
and philosophy, to be generally on
target and rewarding. In the places
where I felt the curriculum wasn’t
what I expected or wanted, I was
often able to do extra work or tailor
'an assignment to fit my academic
desires. In the extracurricular
sphere, the University has offered
plenty of opportunities, even if I
haven’t participated a lot.
There’s really only one thing that
continues to make me all puffed up
with indignation. Or maybe it con
tinues to depress me. The least sat
isfying aspect of my college career
has been die remarkable sense of
ennui I’ve seen in my fellow stu
dents. Ennui (pronounced ON
WEE), for those of you who have
never been inspired to learn the
word, comes from the French circa
1732, and it means “a feeling of
weariness and dissatisfaction,” ac
cording to my Webster’s Dictionary.
Perhaps it’s a little dramatic to
use “ennui” to describe today’s col
lege students. It would certainly be
a generalization to say that all stu
dents are bored and dissatisfied.
There are some high achievers out
there, and they can read this col
umn and sympathize with me. But
a healthy percentage of the stu
dents I sit in classes with seem as if
they would really rather not be
bothered.
I have to ask, what’s up with this
crap? This is an institution of high
er learning. Yes, it’s imperfect, but
it is attempting to follow a fine tra
dition of creating the mentally
elite. I’m perhaps a little old-fash
ioned about this, but I believe there
is a difference between having job
skills (god forbid that’s all college is
for) and being a civic-minded,
well-rounded citizen.
Unfortunately, it seems like many
of the kids I have to put up with in
classes couldn’t care less about be
ing a citizen or
thinking about
or interacting
with the social
discourse. The
attitude instead
is, “Well, I can
slog through
this class and
the next, and
then I’ll have
my degree and I
can get a good
job, and the worthwhile part of life
will come later.” This attitude does
n’t work, and it’s pathetic.
Years ago, when I graduated from
high school and was living in the
Big Apple, all eager and excited to
begin studying acting at New York
University, I had an epiphany, of
sorts. My high school friends and I
were miserable. New York was un
pleasant, the daily grind of city life
was more like a high-powered, in
dustrial-strength food processor,
and we desperately wanted to feel
like something we were doing was
fulfilling.
After a long weekend of drinking
coffee and talking
and yelling and cry
ing, we decided to get
out. College in New
York wasn’t for us at
that time. We didn’t
want to spend years
of our lives hoping
the fulfillment would
come someday. What
a waste, we thought.
) ■ Shouldn’t people be
doing things that
make them feel ful
filled today, right
now?
I realized that if I
put off a sense of con
tentment in my life
until after college, it
wouldn’t end there. I
would get an entry
level job and have to
put off contentment
even longer. Once I
moved up the ladder
and had more respon
sibility, I would still
be waiting for that ex
citement, that joie de
vivre (another contri
bution from the
French, this time from 1889, mean
ing a “buoyant enjoyment of life”).
Ultimately, satisfaction would nev
er come, because we would always
be living in anticipation of it and
never working to make it happen
now.
I hate to sound like the old man
who scolds the youngsters for liv
ing poorly, but guess what? I’m old
er than you and I know better. If
you spend every day thinking your
classes are drudgery, you will have
a job that feels like drudgery. You
will have a life that feels like drudg
Giovanni Salimena Emerald
ery. Maybe when you’re old and re
tired, you’ll finally find life fulfill
ing. That’s not too likely, actually.
My guess is you’ll end up middle
aged and pathetic, like the guy in
“American Beauty. ” What a waste.
My motives for writing this are
not to get everyone to drop out. The
University needs its tuition dollars.
But for students who mope and
whine their way through classes, I
have this to say: Get out! Stop wast
ing my time and money. Stop hold
ing back the learning by asking stu
pid questions because you were too
lazy to read the assignment. Stop
acting like spoiled brats who think
they deserve a cakewalk through
college and a cakewalk through
their careers and a cakewalk
through life. You don’t deserve it.
You have to earn it.
I’m sure the above rant doesn’t
apply to most of the students on
campus. Really. And the soft side of
the rant is that it would be in the
best interests of the dissatisfied stu
dents to get out. Go play and party
and live life for a while. Come back
when you’re interested in some
thing.
Because the funny part is, if one
does live in the moment, and ex
pects fulfillment now, and actually
works to realize that fulfillment,
things are easier and more reward
ing at the same time. Life doesn’t
have to be drudgery. Thinking and
being engaged in the world around
us are fun, if one has the knowledge
to understand the world and criti
cally evaluate it. And then ennui
can be simply a fun affectation to
put on. Combined with an educa
tion, a sense of elitism and a black
turtleneck, ennui can actually be a
satisfying part of life.
Michael J. Kleckner is the editorial editor
for the Oregon Daily Emerald. His views do
not necessarily represent those of the
Emerald. He can be reached at opededi
tor@journalist.com.
Letters to the editor
Candidates with the right stuff
I am writing in an effort to share
my opinion about the upcoming
ASUO elections. I cannot tell you
how pleased I was to learn that Nil
da Brooklyn and Joy Nair are run
ning for ASUO Executive. These
two women provide the insight and
experience that are necessary for a
successful governing student body.
They will create an environment in
which all students can excel by
working with the surrounding com
munity, as well as with state legis
lators and campus administration
to make higher education accessi
ble to all. Nilda and Joy will also
work to protect student control of
student fees so that all programs
continue to be regulated by and for
the students.
I’d like to thank you for taking
the time to read my letter. I hope
that by the time the election rolls
around, everyone remembers that
Nilda and Joy are the candidates
with the experience and leadership
to establish a student government
that works for the good of all stu
dents.
Megan Hughes
freshman
pre-journalism