Sarah Clark- Assignment 7- Why I don't like (traditional) college

I have never been one for college fairs, visits, or tours. One college visit in this year, after I heard the representative  announce the school’s tuition was $70,000 a year (with no opportunities for merit scholarships), I zoned out and would’ve left if my manners hadn’t stopped me. I don’t want to spend my nights shaking hands with alumnus, buying t-shirts, and filling out little forms in hopes that my name and face stick in a college representative’s head. I don’t want to listen to people drone on about information I can find in a Google search. 

Although all of these negative opinions are probably from listening to my brother disparage traditional universities for the past 4 years, after visiting the college he attends, Deep Springs, I finally understood his point of view. A college like Deep Springs is simple, authentic. The students pick the classes and professors. An isolationist policy is kept to be completely absorbed in the education and farm work. If one person fails to complete their labor duties on the farm, the system does not work. If everyone pulls their weight, this tiny, 30-person oasis in the middle of a California desert will be sustained. 

Deep Springs seems to me what a college should be about: an enlightening experience where you learn to become independent. And, it’s free.

My perfect college would have the authenticity of Deep Springs, in that the students have the say in what they are taught and who they are taught by, but a 4 year college, not 2 years.  Also, I want to play tennis in college, and there sure aren’t any courts near Death Valley.