Look, college is fun. It’s a lot of fun. It’s like summer camp, especially in New Orleans, Mardi Gras is a blur. But the one thing that students, like I and many others, forget is that it’s also the last real place that we go to for a well-rounded education. Loyola has a lot to be proud of, specifically its Jesuit ideals which call upon its professors to not just inform students on how to be the best in the world, but also to be the best for the world.
One of the most important values that our Jesuit institution holds close to its heart is a non-judgemental atmosphere. And this is important- it’s important to not judge people on the basis of their gender, sexuality, race, academic record, good or bad, or any other aspect of our persons. And I’m sure that we all understand that this is something that is very different at Loyola then in the world outside, we came here because the student body does not look like that of a larger school, and we can wear the clothes we want, listen to the music we want, and express ourselves as individuals in a non-judgmental atmosphere.
And part of what forms this non-judgmental aspect of our campus is the central idea of why we’re here: to get an education. Whether or not you’re paying your own way through college, you just always knew you had to go to college after high school because that’s just what you do, or your parents told you they wouldn’t keep paying your car note unless you had a bachelor’s degree by the time you turn 22. We are all here to learn, not just from our professors but also from each other. And it is much the same for non-traditional students. Including those of us who come to college late and might have more life experience than most other students.
Many of these people couldn’t attend college when they were our age for a variety of reasons, either financial, or simply because they had too much going on in their life at the time. Many of us give that latter excuse for our late assignments so imagine it being true enough that we could not attend this institution.
And we need to understand that as much as we learn from our professors, we also learn from each other. There’s a reason we’re all here on the same campus, in classes, hallways, lounges, offices, libraries, and other places rather than just having online classes on Zoom. It’s because the knowledge we gain from meaningfully interacting with others on a day to day basis is just as valuable as learning about neoclassical economics or Derrida or Lacan from our professors. We learn from each other, and that is why non-traditional students form such an integral part of every college campus. Because their life experiences often far outreaches our own, and while it may seem often that we have nothing in common with these students, it is often the opposite.
In fact, these people who sacrifice their careers in order to attend college often have more in common with us than we may believe, and their life experiences are often more applicable to the things we learn about and discuss in class. This is why it’s important to know that non-traditional students help us to learn more about the real world, and also help us to value our education more because the value that they, as adults, hold of their own education inspires us to take our education into our own hands, and put in the work necessary to truly succeed and meaningfully interact with each other in a classroom setting and in a personal setting.
