The Good School

So I have recently been thinking about my future a lot lately seeing as how its quickly approaching. Since about late elementary school, when I learned what an ivy league school was, I wanted to go to Harvard. Why Harvard? Because I knew that it was the best of the best, and all the good successful people went there. 

Around eighth grade, I began watching House. I know this may sound silly, but it was that show that made me want to be a doctor. One of the doctors on the show had attended John Hopkins, which made me want to as well. Some how I heard about Columbia, possibly from another doctor show, and since the beginning of my freshman year, that is where I wanted to go. 

This year, I have been through quite a change. I can feel that I am not the same person as the last, and that’s a good thing. I have been thinking a lot about materialism and a couple of weeks ago, I began assessing my life, and my relationship with items. Somehow I began thinking about where this hold on objects originates, and I seem to have traced it back to college. 

Example:

Q: Why do people want to go to a good college?

A: To get a good education.

Q: And why do you want a good education?

A: To get a good job.

Q: And why do you want a good job?

A: So you can make money and be successful.

But wait. Isn’t the definition of successful somewhat subjective? Or have we been brainwashed into thinking that success is defined by the car you drive, the house you live in, and the clothes you rock? My hypothesis is that we have manifested the combination of two words: wealth and success. They are now interchangeable. When someone is successful, we think they are rich. When someone is rich, we think they are successful. 

But what if that isn’t success to you. What if success is being happy and being content with what you own and having little desire to acquire more? What if you measure success in the people you help, the way your children turn out, and the people you make happy simply by being there. 

Then society will once again fuck you over. That’s my hypothesis.

But it is this very idea that has me questioning something I was so sure of only a month ago. If my idea of success differs from that of the above plan, then do I need what people call a “good” job?  And if i don’t need a “good” job, do I need what people call a “good” education? And if I don’t need what people call a “good” education, then do I need to go to a “good” school?

No.

Peace.