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Posted by mannyc [173.77.221.68] on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 07:20:40 :
In Reply to: Good essay about life after college and finding a job... posted by Jonas [67.142.178.21] on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 00:49:21 :
I went to Boston College. It was a fantastic opportunity that I hope to be able to share with my 3 children. There were OK professors and phenomenal ones. The great professors had a passion for their work that was infectious, the OK professors were usually full of crap and didn't last long. One my literature professors, John Mahoney, was (and still is) a lifelong student of the Romantics. By the end of the semester, most of us who hadn't the slightest interest in Keats or Yeats, could speak effectively about their work and some of us actually liked it!
The author of your essay was correct about the fog of senior spring and the hype of the commencement speaker. My graduating class had Bill Cosby of Fat Albert fame as our speaker. He came and spoke about the real world, leaving our parents and he intertwined some light humor into his speech. It was OK, but I'd rather have listened to someone with a closer tie to the school or someone who offered an approach to entering the world and getting a job. A few days later, while unpacking at my first 'real' apartment, I watched Bill Cosby on c-span give a speech at a predominately black college. The speech had morphed from platitudes about good times and respect into a 'stick it to the man' rant. The contrast between the two speeches was what I took away from the whole thing. Some people are sincere, have grounding, have convictions and do not 'tailor' their morals to suit the occasion or situation at hand. Others do not. The unwavering conviction was taught (by example)by a few good professors at BC, to students that would learn has made all the difference.
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