Why We Stay in School
We’ve all heard that classic line. We’ve all gotten that unasked-for piece of advice from mentors and strangers alike. Stay in school. Why, though? They don’t always tell us that part. When they do it’s usually something like, “Stay in school so you can get a good job and make lots of money.”
Which is all well and good. I mean, I like buying coffee and clothes and shoes and all that as much as the next person. But it isn’t very meaningful, is it? Stay in school so you can make money? Sure, money is useful. But that means my time in school is just a stepping stone, a period of waiting so that someday I can leave to go and work.
So let’s add in some meaning. You could say that the meaning of school is the experiences or the fun you had, maybe the learning that took place. Maybe the meaning lies in all the memories you made, or all the times you laughed. Those things are certainly important to the college experience. But they fall a little flat. Even if college isn’t about money - if it’s about memories and experiences - it’s still all about me, and that just seems too selfish to be right. It’s still not meaningful.
So let’s add in the right meaning. Our college experience isn’t selfish. Let’s take a step back and reexamine our original piece of advice. “Stay in school so you can get a good job and make lots of money.” School is useful when aiming for a specific career, undoubtedly. But the goal of that career isn’t money. Coming at this from a Christian perspective, our future careers are about loving God’s creation. Maybe that means caring for students as a teacher. Maybe it means healing people from illness as a doctor, or creating and appreciating beauty as an artist. In all of these cases, people use their talents to learn about and glorify God and to love their neighbors. So yes, school helps us get the job we want, but that job doesn’t just make us money - it lets us love others and love God, and that is certainly not selfish.
It also isn’t just a stepping stone into the professional world. It’s not focused solely on the future. Like I just mentioned, the most vital aim of our careers is to love our neighbors. But BREAKING NEWS: We have neighbors here in school too. Just like I will someday care for my students as an English teacher, I can care for my peers, my hall, my teammates, and my friends right here and right now. Neither role - teacher or peer/RA/runner/friend - is more admirable than the other. We can show love now just as well as we will be able to in our careers. Let’s not set the present aside for the future’s sake.
College is great. We get to learn, to hang out with friends, stay up way too late, eat obscene amounts of microwave popcorn, go on spontaneous road trips, and more. We get to play sports, join clubs, try new things, and have fun. It’s awesome, and it’s meaningful too. So yes, “Stay in school, kids.” But do it for the right reasons. It’s not about money or about us. It’s about love and care for other people, not just in the future, but now.