Distractions of College Life, Zuleika pp. 268-213 (11.22.2005)

Our time here is limited. If we graduate in 2009 or in 2020, at some point we must leave the University of Texas. While we are here, we face goals and traditions that are lined with temptations and impositions that make our tasks more difficult, yet sometimes more rewarding.

The temptation Zuleika proposes mirrors the “death of the undergraduates” through temptations (293). At the University of Texas, we face many of the same temptations that hover over other intellectual establishments. Without continual challenges and thought, “future years could but stale, if not actually mar, that perfection” (268). We face the temptation of allowing our thought to stagnant by not participating in stimulating discussion and writing. We must never have the experience the Duke had as “he paused there, to feel for the last time the vague thrill he had always felt at sight of the small and devious portal that had lured to itself, and would always lure, so many scholars from the ends of the earth, scholars famous and scholars obscure, scholars polyglot and of the most diverse bents, but none of them not stirred in heart somewhat on the found threshold of the treasure-house” (276). Additionally, we face the challenge of discovering our sense of self and our place within the University community. Each student is challenged to “go forth as he was. He would be true to the motto he wore, and true to himself” (274). We must be ourselves. And, finally, we must discover our knowledge, because it is only the information and lessons that we discover and internalize ourselves that stay with us for each student has “brought nothing into this world and could take nothing out of it… what he loved best he could carry with him to the very end” (274).

Not only do we face temptations in our education, but we are also fueled by the impositions placed on us by history and tradition. Most relevant now, with the Big 12 Championship only two weeks away, is reflected with “the puny sound of a gunshot. The boats were starting. Would Judas hump Magdalen? Would Judas be head of the river?” (286). Similar to Oxford’s traditional crew races is the University of Texas’ love for football. The firing of the canon signals the beginning of each season and game as the Longhorns play their way up in the rankings. Furthermore, the motto “a cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy” is enforced by our campus’ architecture (299). Walking out of World Literature everyday, I am a mere dot in the Texas Capital and Tower’s presence. The two face each other, reminding the city, the politicians, and the students that the education the University of Texas is giving will influence the democracy represented in the state’s capital.

In these ways, both temptations and traditions offer a unique intellectual opportunity to students at the University of Texas.