Universities

• Portfolio
  • E603A: Fall Semester
    • Writings
    • Message Board
      • Required
        • Hypermedia
        • College Arch.
        • College Gothic
        • Modernism
        • Universities
        • The Grotesque
        • Idealism
        • Unity
        • Child's Wonder
      • Optional
    • Projects
  • E603B: Spring Semester

A university should not be about preparing you for a certain career. So many students pick a career their freshman year, put their head down, keep their eyes on the requirements for their major and never look up. To me, this defeats the purpose of the University. "Universities grew from the studia generalia" (Anthology 340), which (I'm assuming) is the study of many general topics. Colleges aren't supposed to be the studia biomedicine-a, they are meant to generate well rounded, well educated students.

I'm majoring in Computer Science, and it frightens me that a large majority of my classmates, in their years here, will never look at a piece of art, read a classic, or connect emotionally to anything they do while in school. I mean, sure, UT churns out some of the best programmers in the world, but will my classmates have received a true "education"?

In his Address to the Faculty, President Flann emphasized that the University of Texas, "as an institution, focus on the greatest of all resources -- the human intellect" (Anthology 307). So, how do we improve the intellect of our students? The idea that answers this question, is that: "all branches of knowledge are connected together ... the subject matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself" (Anthology 308). So, to produce a college graduate who is truly educated, we can't just improve one aspect alone. We must improve and learn in all aspects, to become what a true university is meant to produce. A true University "teaches all knowledge by teaching all branches of knowledge" (Anthology 312).

I looked up the quote that the motto on the UT seal is taken from, and it speaks to this idea of a well-rounded student, as well. In it, Mirabeau B. Lamar expounds that "the cultivated mind is the ... only security which freeman desire" (Anthology 73). The idea is, that if a student has been taught in multiple disciplines he or she will be secure in the world. We won't dependent on having a job in a certain sector or have to worry about being unable to function in situations involving diverse fields. I love the idea that a college makes you secure in the fact that you can take on anything the world throws at you.

So, why am I here?

I really believe that Plan II is one of the few places left in the country where students are able to get a full education. Plan II embodies all of the ideas that I have presented so far, and that is the main reason I chose this school. I want to have that security that comes from learning as many things as possible.