Ask Lemmy

I learned so much about the world in college. "But you can learn a lot on the Internet and from life experience." Yes, you can, but you are more likely to stay in your bubble that way. College forced me to meet and interact with people from around the world. I learned about the impact of colonialism in Africa from an Eritrean immigrant. I dodged protestors of every sort at the Campus Center. I discovered that I was an excellent writer thanks to mentorship from an English department grad student. I partied and had a few beers between classes with a woman from Ukraine who wanted to take what she learned and bring it home to help her people. I flirted with a woman who was leaving later that summer to do missionary work. I met my eventual wife - a girl from ultra-manicured, tightly planned suburbia who fell hard for a country boy.

I learned how to think more robustly then I ever had before. I had all of my beliefs challenged. I discovered that I was impressively talented in many ways while being completely inept in others.

I went in a boy with a limited world view, and I left a young man who better understood how much he did not know about the world

I attended a state school. This was years ago, but I left with no loans while my peers were piling on debt at private colleges. My education was not elitist, but it was elite thanks to everyone around me.