Response: A Vision of Students Today

Lately, the University and it's interests, actions, and opinions has been a very active topic in my life. After getting home from a meeting about the Student Union at Michigan (SUM  - you should also check them out and help their cause!), I have taken into consideration what it actually means to be a student. This video was actually very spot on in identifying what it is like being a student today. With so much technology revolving around our lives, it's hard not to notice the impact that it ends up having on every situation that we're in - even inside the classroom.

Being a student today is not like anything it has been before. We are constantly working, discovering, teaching and learning, all while needing to keep an active social life for our sanity and being aware of the world around us. If you ask me, I'd say it's a lot to handle - as stated in the video, we are multi-atskers because we have to be. 

But the thing some people do not realize is our impact on the world around us, or lack thereof. We spend so much money attending classes, paying for books (most of which may never need to read), and buying expensive technology like computers and iClickers, all in order to learn for ourselves and for our own benefit. One of the statements in the video that really surprised me was "this laptop is worth more than what some people in the world make in a month." This really struck me as something most students will never think about - we do work hard, but what about in comparison to the rest of the world? In one of the richest countries in the world, we often to not realize all that we are given so we can keep on taking in the future. As average students - who is often times are Facebook during class, who spend a lot of time watching TV, and who go out almost every weekend to spend time with friends - our impact on the world, even simply in our own minds, seems very minimal to me. 

Overall, I guess I seem to be disappointed with some of the student involvement in the world around us. Sure, it's easy to try to change the world behind a computer screen, but that definitely isn't how we will actively change our future for the better. With so many resources, opportunities, connections and privileges, I think that students need to take advantage of all the positive entitlements we have in order to make the world a better place.

CC: Flickr user ryanstraube

Link to A Vision of Students Today video can be found here.