What is college teaching you?

I have two very important people in my life who are starting their college career soon. I have a second cousin who is heading off to Vanderbilt this summer and my godson is going to UT-Austin in the fall.

In conversations with their parents about their future, I was asked to explain to these very bright and enthusiastic young adults what they should want to get out of the college experience. In doing so, I was reminded of my own college years, and what wonderful years they were. As I reflected and talked about the fun times and the parties (their parents were not present when I was telling them this), I also told them the three most important things I learned.

The first thing I thought about was how lucky I was to be exposed to a whole new diverse world, which was far removed from the East Texas close-minded mentality of my youth. So I told them about toleration.

Toleration of other people’s cultures, religions and lifestyles is the hallmark of an advanced civilized society. It is how we distinguish our open society from one, which is based on the closed-mindedness of fundamentalism and extremism. Certainly any college or university worthy of the title should teach you to learn from and tolerate other’s diversity and differences.

Secondly, a college should teach us to ask the important questions. Why am I here? What can I do to make the world better? Is my heart in the right place? Are material things important? Also, a democracy demands that citizens question their government. So we should question everything the government or our officials do. It is the least we can do in a free and open system. Thomas Jefferson once advised: “Question everything – even the existence of God.” He also opined that “ignorance is not a sin, wanting to be ignorant is.” I can’t think of a more important lesson to learn in a collegial setting.

And lastly, I told my dear relatives and any other college students who will listen that life is not black or white, but mostly grey. The grey is what makes us human. The grey is what makes us think. The grey is what causes us to have to make choices. Hopefully, we will make the right choices. A good number of you, including my godson and cousin, already have: you are going to college!

(John Hitt is a government professor and a sponsor of the Student Government Association. He was recently voted “Full-Time Faculty of the Year” by students.)