One day during my summer job, I had a conversation that centered on whether college life is different from life in the "real world.” As I write this sentence, I cringe because I do not believe in the validity of the exclusionary term "real world.” Therefore, I do not believe that there is a "real world"-- I do not think that life in an academic institution is discrete from life in the outside world.
In this article, I will deconstruct the ideology that college is a sort of prerequisite shadow of the real world. Specifically, I provide examples of how life in the outside world is intermixed with college life. Disturbingly, when college life is opposed to life in the outside world, students are led to believe that they will jump from the frying pan and into the fire after graduation because the rug of institutional comfort is ripped from underneath their feet. Ultimately, this article exists to provide solace because I will prove that we students are already in the fire.
Despite the fact that we pay for entrance to a somewhat exclusive academic institution, we still face social, academic, and occupational repercussions for our actions. We are human beings--we use our cognitive skills to navigate our lives while we are in college. Although, our lives are superficially altered while we are in college, our psychological experiences do not undergo fundamental changes. Saying that college life is nothing like life in the real world devalues our college experiences as well as the social, academic, and occupational growth that we achieve. Ultimately, I learned how life operates in the outside world by observing different aspects of my college life.
Arcadia is a small, private liberal arts college in which the grass on Haber green is mowed in the same places to maintain the constant parallel lines. Due to this repetitive work, the green is kept in pristine condition. Recently at Arcadia, I overheard someone jokingly belittle the lawnmowers because they mowed the grass in the same places during the same time of the day. She crooned, "This only happens at Arcadia land.” How is the repetitive and unnecessary work of school different from the repetitive and unnecessary work in the outside world? For example, when I worked at Walmart as a cashier, we were expected to straighten the shelves and zone our area when no customers were around for us to serve. Of course, this work is repetitive and unnecessary because the store will continue to operate regardless of the fact that a few candy bars are out of place.
My point is, that workers need to keep their selves occupied so that they will feel motivated to keep doing their jobs. Why complain about the futility of repetitive work when workers exist to serve and please others? A worker will inevitably run out of necessary work to do if they are not given new orders by a supervisor or a manager. If employees do not perform their duties because they run out of necessary work, the world will become an undisciplined and chaotic place. I do not think we would gripe about the pointless and unnecessary work that others do once the workflow stops. After all, if police officers are on night watch and they do not see any suspects, they are not allowed to sleep or drive home. Even if police officers on night duty doubt the value of their jobs, they could miss a potential suspect if they let their pride interfere with their general responsibility to protect.
Therefore, the work of college staff is fundamentally similar to the work that others have in the outside world. Therefore, the term "Arcadia land" should become obsolete because it is based on faulty oppositions.
Another misleading proclamation that I hear at Arcadia is that work-study is not a real job. I was crushed when I congratulated a former friend on her newly landed work-study position and she dismissed me by saying, “it’s just work study, it's not a real job". As someone who has had a handful of work-study positions in different departments, I was flabbergasted at the thought that my occupations lacked value because they were not real jobs. The very fact that I had a greater advantage of getting those jobs because I am a college student proves that my work-study jobs are realistic. In the outside world, someone is more likely to land a job if he or she is affiliated with a company through a family member or a friend. In my case, my status as an Arcadia student worked in my favor because I was quickly hired for all the work-study positions that I applied for. Therefore, Arcadia is like a friend or a parent that put in a good word in for me to get a job.
Other reasons why work-study jobs are similar to jobs in the outside world are that they are low wage jobs that can be combined and terminated after a short period. Moreover, if you leave them after a semester, no one will have a heart attack. In the outside world, stores like Target and Walmart hire seasonal workers for temporary help and they do not promise to keep you. Similarly, a work-study position is a temporary job that students do in order to get money without the commitment of extensive paperwork and screening processes. Work-study is low wage work that people do not associate with prestige. This is similar to how it is in the outside world where people have to stack jobs together to pay their bills. For example, an adjunct professor might have to work at a supermarket to make ends meet. In addition, adjuncts may have to teach at multiple colleges to pay their bills. In this job market, there is less worker loyalty because people take jobs out of desperation. Fittingly, work-study jobs can be stacked in order for students to get maximum hours. So, when it comes to fundamentals, isn't work-study comparable to low-wage work? You even get a timed lunch, unlike the administration. Furthermore, It is frowned upon if you are late and if you push your luck, you will get warned and terminated. Altogether, a college work-study job is a legitimate source of income because it is essentially low-wage blue-collar work.
Another misleading tidbit that I hear about Arcadia --and college in general-- is that it is nurturing while the "real world" is unforgiving and cold. Excuse me, but the professors here do not exactly hold your hand. If you do not do all of your assignments and if you have too many absences and if your disagreeable personality is too much to handle you will fail your classes and your self-destructive behavior will be put to a stop! In an email, my first year seminar professor informed me that I missed "a bunch of classes" and proclaimed that I needed to turn in my missing assignments. Talk about straightforward. Next, when I showed up late to my introductory studio drawing class, my professor told me that I needed to get my watch fixed. He then bulged his eyes as he said, "you can't miss any more classes!" I missed three classes. That moment was embarrassing because my attendance record was revealed to my diligent classmates. Next, my introductory English literature professor told us bluntly that if we do not talk to our classmates, then we have no reason to come to her class. I failed her class that semester because I internalized her comment. I did not have the courage to interact with my classmates. I was like a deer out of the woods. During my first semester of college, my GPA suffered because my English professor's jarring comment was like a slap and an ice bucket to the face.
My first semester of college was not nurturing. Instead, my first semester was a wakeup call that informed me about the universal equation of success and giving into the demands of others. This point was not stressed enough during high school.
Altogether, the occupational, social, and academic aspects of college are embedded into the outside world. They comprise the outside world. Instead of viewing college as separate from the outside world, we should think of college as inseparable from it. Because I have witnessed repetitive work and because I have been reprimanded and employed at Arcadia, I am in tune with reality. I am intertwined with reality. My current life is a reality. Therefore, after I graduate I do not have much to adjust to -- except to the financial expectations that others have of me. That is not a reality; it is just an aftertaste of socialization.
