One of the great failings of our education system is the protracted adolescence that apparently extends into the college years for so many students. The interesting aspect of the Colorado State "f*** Bush" mini-"controversy" isn't that some unsophisticated undergrad used the F word, but rather that anyone thinks this situation is some sort of revolution in free speech or the discussion thereof.
College Republicans at Colorado State University collected more than 300 signatures calling on CSU's Board of Student Communications to fire Editor in Chief David McSwane. ...On Friday, The Rocky Mountain Collegian ran a four-word editorial that read: "Taser this . . . F--- Bush." National radio talk shows, CNN and MSNBC have since buzzed with debate about free-speech rights and the bounds of propriety. ...
But senior journalism major Rachael Martin defended the paper. "I agree that he didn't need to use the f-word," said Martin, who described herself as a Republican.
"But look at what it's done. It's had college students all around the nation talking about freedom of speech for the first time. By no means should he be fired."
Real World to College-Fantasyland: Your observations are not profound, your debates have all been had before, and your controversies are generally uninteresting and insubstantial. And our university system should have taught you that by now. If you want to prepare yourself to someday make a substantial contribution to human civilization, then instead of fomenting insipid debates about shallow, meaningless issues you should spend your time learning from the debates and discussions of the past.
Isaac Newton famously wrote, "If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." Our education system needs to teach our students about the giants of the past and help them climb up on their shoulders. Instead, every student is taught to stand alone, deluded into thinking that the world has never seen the likes of their intelligence and rationality and that their every stray thought is a profound revelation of universal truth.
Talk less. Listen more. If you're extremely blessed you may someday have even one single thought that's worth broad dissemination for the betterment of humanity.
