OPINIONS Friday, October 23, 2015
Letter to the Editor: Prepare for real life Don't waste time and money on degrees that don't matter
BING TO THE T
FUTURE
his past Wednesday was “Back to the Future” Day — aka the day that Marty McFly travels to in “Back to the Future Part II” from his then-present-day 1985.
The film made many predictions about October 21, 2015. Some were startlingly accurate. Others, not so much. This got the Pipe Dream Editorial Board thinking about what Binghamton University will look like 30 years in the future — so hop into our DeLorean and take a look at what’s coming to Vestal Parkway in 2045. Football! BU will finally have a football team. We don’t know if they’ll be any good, but they’ll exist. The football field will be built somewhere Downtown. BU students will spend their Saturday mornings tailgating and cheering for the Bearcats. The local football talent is pretty decent, so maybe
there is a chance we could build a competitive team. Downtown Campus will have expanded to Downtown. The University Downtown Center will be the oldest building in the new West Campus. Binghamton will have been gentrified to the point that it will basically be Ithaca. The bar scene will be more than just State Street; maybe Larry Shea will run a series of bars with his cats, speckled all over the West Side. We envision nightlife all across the city, with a variety of choices for students — no more State Street every weekend for four years. University Expansion The University will have
claimed eminent domain over the houses between the soccer field and the Innovative Technologies Complex, where they’ll build a new housing community as well as — for the love of God — an enormous gym to accommodate our 45,000 students by 2045. Needless to say, between now and then, the construction will never cease. Reputation “Where’s Binghamton?” will sound like a much dumber question than it does now. Not only will we finally be the “Premier Public University in the Northeast,” we’ll be one of the “Premier Public Universities in the Nation.” Come on, we’re so much closer to New York City
than Michigan is. That’s gotta count for something, right? Basketball Our basketball team will win at least four conference tournaments. We may get good enough to leave the America East and join a more prestigious conference. No, you know what? We’ll have won an NCAA championship by that time, too. That’s right, the Binghamton Bearcats will capture a national title. There, we said it. Maybe we’ll beat Duke, or our local rival Syracuse. Keep this issue of Pipe Dream somewhere safe, because we’re making that call now. We’re dreaming big, because in 30 years, anything can happen.
Views expressed in the opinion pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial, above. The Editorial Board is composed of the Editor-in-Chief, News Editor, Opinions Editor, Sports Editor and Release Editor.
Millenials not interested in 'do-nothing' politics
In an age of lazy government, our generation has the chance to incite change Melanie Sharif
Contributing Columnist
Millennials don’t dig politics. Although there are those of us who still pretend to read newspapers, listen to NPR, watch “The Daily Show” or, better yet, find an independent news source of our liking, the majority of young people in the United States are disinterested in mainstream American politics. In the 2012 presidential election, the younger age brackets made up only 36 percent of the electorate, while the upper age brackets, 40-65-andup, made up 64 percent. This is of course disproportionate to American demographics: According to the Census Bureau, Millennials recently eclipsed the Baby Boomers as the largest demographic in the U.S. This may have not been official in 2012, but nonetheless, massive amounts of young people stayed home during the first week of November three years ago, while nearly everyone’s grandmother made time to go out and vote. This is because of more than just the fact that many of us don’t watch Fox News. Many a journalist
suggest something to the tune of our finding politics disheartening and immovable. It seems as though the system is so flawed, so far away from giving the faintest rat’s behind at what we have to offer, that it’s not even worth exerting our precious energy over. And this might be true, to an extent. The American government is in a bit of a rut. In 1948, Harry Truman invented a phrase to describe certain lazy incarnations of government branches known as “do-nothing.” First used to describe Congress, the phrase criticized groups of elected officials that didn’t manage to pass many useful laws. Truman would faint if he saw politics today. The 112th Congress, which ended on January 3, 2013, currently holds the record for passing the least amount of bills. In other words, the government nowadays is managing to promote the least amount of change in the history of the country. Ever. We are unfortunately in a donothing stage, and we sense it. These periods are brought on by vast economic growth and income inequality. When the rich in the U.S. are extremely rich, laws are essentially paid for. Your vote for president or your letter to your congressman doesn’t seem to mean much because that’s not what’s
keeping them in office. Efficiency and reliability as a means to attract the voter has died. The one percent supports the headquarters of the politicians that will pass bills that make the rich richer or just manage to subdue the “rival” cause, and keep these unhelpful people in office, year after year. All of that money just to elevate the political status quo, a stalemate between two ridiculously polarized groups of people. The president isn’t much better: He is now a figurehead for one of our bloated parties. Toward the end of his eight-year run, Obama essentially disregarded Congress and attempted to rally the favor of the American public. Even then, some are still labeling him as “donothing.” The most effective branch of government at the moment is arguably the judicial branch: they recently granted marital freedom to millions of Americans. And we can’t even vote for that. This is unattractive. In fact, it’s stressful and hopeless. “For the people, by the people?” More like, for the rich, by the stubborn Baby Boomers. Millennials don’t really have money to influence politics. They have their “personal brand,” their Apple products, their American Spirits, their friends and their open-mindedness. But they
don’t really have as much money as the Koch brothers, or even close to that. So what now? The presidential election cycle is just beginning, with Donald Trump here to scare the shit out of us. If you just turned 18 or are about to turn 18 this year, you should register to vote, even if you don’t care about politics. You don’t have to vote. But you should know that your vote still matters, even though politicians just see you as a part of a rating percentage or a number in a rally turn-out total. Politicians don’t count on young people, because they know they aren’t reliable voters. But that’s our edge. Millennials are like a hidden political weapon. We have immense swaying power and no one expects us to use it. But we can vote, and you can pay attention, even if paying attention means finding out what exactly is wrong with politics and in what ways you disagree with the circus on Capitol Hill. So that maybe, come the time when there is a congressperson in your district that actually might do something instead of that guy who’s been there since the ’70s, you’ll give a shit, and you’ll be ready. — Melanie Sharif is a junior majoring in psychology
Dear Editor, As a SUNY Binghamton graduate — class of ‘74 — I have some sobering words for the current undergraduate community. An anthropology major who lived and breathed cultural anthropology, I graduated with the award for the best student in the social sciences. I was pursuing what I thought was a well-focused dream to become a professor of anthropology. What I learned in the past 40 plus years, is that life in “the real world” is completely at odds with the academic fantasy as it was presented to me, and as I am sure as it is presented to many undergraduates today. The academic world that I immersed myself in, as well as the social environment of Harpur — as it was then called — was one that stressed openness, flexibility, discussion, justice and even compassion. I was not taught about the work-a-day world in which sterile conformity and adherence to the rules of those in absolute power are the real imperatives. I know that many young graduates today — not only at SUNY B but at other liberal arts schools — are being mislead by the notion that they can make a difference, and many of them quit their jobs or otherwise become quite disenchanted when they discover that the principles they were taught have no currency in the real world. I never got an iota of career guidance when I was at Harpur; I had no idea, for example, that the various levels of government offered what turned out to be, by far, the best and most secure work opportunities for graduates over time. I was never taught about the incredible strength and power of government unions, for example, in protecting their own at the expense of those in the private sector. I never even considered that all the professors at SUNY Binghamton were unionized state employees; somehow I had imagined they were above such “petty” concerns. My advice to young people at SUNY Binghamton, particularly those in the liberal arts, is not to be misled by dreamy notions of academic fulfillment or selffulfillment , especially via “create your own” majors and bogus academic programs, even some of the standard departments like anthropology, which in this Internet age, as well as this age of war and poverty throughout much of the undeveloped nations, has almost no value, except for the most gifted. Other social science departments offer no real training in the “real world” except as they are a stepping stone to more practical careers, and, in the very rare case, a segue into the privileged, elite world of academia. To an even greater degree than it was in my day, the real world is controlled by vested interests, corporate autocracy, public relations, the power of government at every level, money and conformity. I urge students not to dream frivolous, immature dreams as did I back in the day, fed and nurtured by a University that was just interested in maintaining enrollees in the various
departments. As soon as you are gone, the University will fade like a mirage. Know that whatever stimulating experiences you have are, for the most part, self contained, and that following your graduation, you will have to pay strict adherence to the rules others set for you. Most of all, develop a sense of what your real strengths are, and what skills are suited for the job market. Even a core value of anthropology — humanistic relativism — that I would have thought would have stood the test of time seems to have no place in this society. Managing a residential facility for the mentally disabled, for example, I have come to realize that it does not seem that this value has any relevance any more, as state regulators site structure, quantification and compliance over compassion and a caring, needs-driven approach to residential care. The state bureaucracy is more powerful now, under a “liberal Democrat” than it was under Rockefeller’s era. Moreover the University has done next to nothing to bridge the income gap between the city of Binghamton and itself. It may have spoken a great storm about economic and political justice, but it has, if anything, helped marginalize Downtown Binghamton and its immediate surroundings over the past half century. Although I was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and spent innumerable hours at study, I learned not one new skill in my pursuit of my Honor’s degree, not even proficiency in a foreign language, so vital in anthropological and historical research. This is a critical time in your lives, where you are investing your time and money. Don’t squander it on dreams that can never come to pass. And remember that SUNY Binghamton, in the end, is just a self-fulfilling state institution whose self interests are, first and foremost, those of their own. When you begin to understand the dissonance between your experience at SUNY Binghamton and the real world, or strive to develop usable real-life skills, you will not be bitterly disappointed by what awaits you after you graduate as I was. If you dream as I did, be prepared for failure. You may enjoy this time in a higher pursuit — as did I — but just remember that the world out there is relatively unforgiving and cares little about you. Harry Katz is a graduate of the class of 1974
The 'real world' is completely at odds with the academic fantasy as it was presented to me