My Idea of a University

I always knew that I would attend a University. I never wanted to "go to college." Attending a university always sounded better; I quite often told people that I was going to do so just so I could hear it. My father went to Texas A&M and was one semester shy of graduation when he decided he hated his major and quit. I didn’t want to be him. I have been told since entering GT in my early elementary years that I was "gifted, intelligent, smart, above-average," etc… I wanted to make a difference in the world, be the first in my family to graduate from a university, to get a degree.

I have always loved learning, so continuing to a higher education always seemed the natural thing to do. Although it seemed a simple enough task, the difficult part came in when choosing which of the many astute universities that I would ultimately pledge my allegiance to; in deciding where I would live and learn and which major I would choose to study. I remember being quite dismayed upon learning that, at the university level, you had to choose a specific topic of study…I did not understand this concept. My wonderful father soon helped me out by informed me that unfortunately he did not possess the funds for me to "learn everything" and I would have to find something that I was interested in. I was somewhat crestfallen, but quickly rallied and began to decide what I would be. Every week it was something different. I constantly pestered my father asking him if I could learn to be an Astronaut at a university (or lawyer, or "pet-doctor," or teacher, or well you get the point). Eventually I decided on aerospace engineering. I wanted to design spaceships; I loved studying outer space and wanted to be able to go there one day on a spaceship that I had designed. That seemed the coolest thing ever, I also wanted to be able to say that "it is rocket science" (yes, I know, corny). But I gave that idea up as well as all the others after a year of intense calculus. I currently want to do something that doesn’t involve sitting at a desk in a florescent jungle doing endless amounts of mindless work 24/7. Haven't quite got around to deciding what that something is going to be though...

Well obviously I chose to come to the University of Texas here in Austin (my father was disappointed to say the least), or UT depending on who you are talking too, and got accepted into the Plan II program…whatever the hell that is, as Tyler stated, "no one really knows." All I knew about it was that it would allow me to continue to "learn everything" (so there Daddy!). I have a major without really having any idea what I want to do with my life, or maybe I should say having way too many ideas with what I want to do with my life…which fits nicely with the philosophy of Plan II set up by Dean Parlin in 1935 "Education for a life, not for a living" (x: pg. 343I, "Plan II at the University of Texas at Austin"). Supposedly I am being prepared for whatever I choose to endeavor as this life continues.

I have found Plan II students to be an amazing group of people, all diverse and yet strangely alike. It is almost as though I have entered a little world where everyone is kind of like me; the opposite of Alice's experiences… weird I know, but comforting in another way. It is amazing how the smaller groups are allowing each of us to "learn to respect, to consult, and to aid each other" along this voyage that we call education. (X: pg. 309; "The Idea of a University, 1852") My Plan II classes are the ones I look forward to the most. They allow me to truly explore ideas I have not thought of before.

But in studying the university as a whole, I was struck by how much of it is simply a social melting pot as Lydia touched on. As if we were the little frogs spoken of the lecture last night ("Why Males Die Before Mating"), all hanging out in our little ponds waiting for another to walk on by; if not for mating purposes then for friendship (although I am sure there is plenty of both going on). All kinds of students from different backgrounds and walks of life that, even though "they cannot pursue every subject," they are benefiting "by living among those and under those who represent the whole circle as all the branches of knowledge are connecting together." (X: pg. 308-9; " The Idea of a University, 1852")

Thus one might say that the University is a place where the social and academic aspects of life become united in a single existence. Where there is harmony and unity among students living and working toward the same overall goal. Where the past and present come together as those before us continue to provide a public education for current students in the effort to “develop and sustain the economy of the nation.” And for those of us in the Plan II program they continue the tradition of liberal arts education to “cultivate the intellect” of the nation. (X: pg. 306; Annual address to the faculty, October 16, 1984; President Peter T. Flawn)