Osler's Razor

There were some wonderful haikus last week on the subject of college. Like Renee's:

Mount Holyoke called
From pictures of chic girls
But Dad held purse strings.

I want to see those pictures of the chic girls... I'm imagining this kind of austere New Enland Sleek.

I also went bonkers for this one from CTL, just for the truthiness of it:

Get into college
With least possible effort?
Baylor had FastApp!

Received acceptance
By text message, I knew it
Was the place for me!


It is, by the way, true about the FastApp. Apparently, you don't even have to fill the whole thing out yourself. A few key stats and... Hello, Baylor! (or not).

I've spent the past few days at Stanford, which is a stunningly beautiful place. It contrasts with the other Western school I spoke at this month, the University of Arizona, in some fascinating ways-- even though it is fairly compact and in a built-up area, the Stanford campus just doesn't seem as urban.

I've been pondering recently what the central purpose of college (undergraduate school, not law school) should be. Is it training, direct or indirect, for work, or is it something broader and deeper?

For me, the experience I had at William and Mary informed almost every aspect of my life-- work, yes (I learned to be a decent writer there), but other areas, as well. My social life certainly is different because of what I learned there; I'm an introvert, and learned the value of forcing myself out of my comfort zone now and then.

Somehow, I want it to be something more than just job training. I want it to be person-building, if that makes sense, and thinking about it kind of makes me want to teach undergrads, at least a little.