“The educational community today makes relatively clear distinctions between colleges, universities, academies, and other kinds of schools, but their definitions carried widely in different times and places. In order to avoid repeating “college and university” with awkward frequency, the term college is sometimes used in this work in a broad sense, as including most schools of higher education in America-although merely framing a definition of “higher education” is difficult, given the changes, over time, in the ages of students, types of curricula, and academic degree.”
Campus by Paul Venable Turner
College is not just a school. According to Turner, college is a community and a tiny version of society. There is so much more than just classes. There is library, dorms, places to eat, and athletic facilities for students to have another life outside of academics. “Americans departed from tradition by creating individual colleges in separate locations rather than clustering them at a university, and thus intensified the autonomous nature of each college as a community in itself.” I have visited many colleges in the United States before I decided to come to St. Olaf. Every school I saw was similar: somewhat rural and away from the cities, small liberal arts college, and gorgeous campus. My parents strongly opposed the idea of choosing a school based on things other than academic ranking and reputation, since they believed that nothing was more important and studying in college, which I totally agree that it is the truth. They made a list of all the colleges I got into, and told me to go the one that was ranked the best colleges on the US. News website. However, I was searching for a place where I can thrive. “The American university is a world in itself.” I am glad that I have found my world.
No comments:
Post a Comment