The Purdue Live Gabfest

I was informed earlier this semester that Slate Political Gabfest was coming to Purdue in April. However, when they finally came to West Lafayette on April 7, 2011, I was in St. Elizabeth Hospital because of flu and pneumonia. Since I was probably the only student in class who missed out this live podcast, I think I should make my study in Purdue complete by listening to the podcast recorded in University Church when I was in the hospital.

First of all, this is the podcast that really distinguishes itself from other Slate podcasts. It's probably because it's recorded with real audience at the scene and not at the studio where podcasters have to imagine the existence of their audience. The energy of the whole podcast brings the conversation alive. With the laughter of the audience, I felt as if I was there too.

They talked about three topics on April 7, the federal budget issue, the 2012 presidential campaign, and the college admission percentages. Among these three topics, I relate more to the third topic and would like to reflect my thoughts on that.

The question of whether or not college is worth the huge amount of money we pay each semester has been long debating, and it reminded me of my blog post from last year about wether or not the college names matter. Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz asked one another these questions: What do colleges really do? What kind of education do you get from college? And what do people want from college? IS it the right thing for everyone?

I believe everyone has their own answers for those questions, but they brought up an interesting scenario that I've never thought of before: If we pay $50,000 per year for college just to build our connections with people, why can't we just save the money but still live on campus?

My thoughts about what we really get from college education coincide with Emily's. To me, college is not just a place where you make friends and build connection with professors and classmates. It's a place where I learn to cope with different pressure, deal with time limits, make friends, work my way through obstacles, experience semi-professional working life, think critically, work with people even if I don't get along with them outside of the classroom, and most importantly, figure out what I love to do and to prepare myself in becoming the professional I want to be. If I just rented an apartment on campus and not go to class, I would definitely miss out a lot.

As I'm graduating next week, if you ask me whether or not Purdue/college is worth the money I paid throughout the years, I would say absolutely yes!