Higher Education: what does it mean?

In recent months I've noticed that University life is often visually represented by sports.  Namely football games.  This has started to bother me because it makes me ask the question, "is this how America is starting to look at getting a higher education?  As a mere excuse to go to a sporting event?" 

Universities started out in ancient Greece.  The students at many of these Universities would study philosophy.  Namely certain writings of Plato that we call the Socratic Dialogues.  In these writings Plato wrote down "conversations" Socrates would have with people where he would question things they thought they knew to the point of them realizing that they really don't know as much as they thought they did.  This is a Readers Digest explanation but seriously, the thought process in many of these dialogues is amazing to read through.  So, you take something that started out with people analyzing texts that were designed to make us question the world around us and think very hard about what we are presented with as "fact" and "reality".  Then you fast forward to today and we are told that University life is nothing more than parties and sporting events.  Or, if nothing else, just a way to get paid more.  It seems very sad to me. It seems that a deeper meaning has been lost.

In my experience I've found that the University experience is still a life examining, thought provoking, and mentally challenging experience.  But society seems to want to change that.  The process I just described is a difficult one.  It's a sleep deprived, hard working, self "checking" life that is often uncomfortable.   So maybe the reason society depicts higher education the way it does is to make it seem easy.  Going to a football game is much easier than studying for hours, not to pass a test, but to gain knowledge about something you are interested in.  Passing the test is a reward for your thirst for knowledge.  The world says "Go to college.  The foot ball games are awesome parties.  And if you aren't into that whole partying thing well at least you can get paid more when you are done."  Sure College will be this for many people.  But if that's all it is to you, you will graduate having short changed yourself so drastically that the experience will have hardly been worth it.  And the worse part is you won't even have learned enough to realize that. 

Party on Wayne.
Party on Garth.