Here you are, a few weeks into another semester at college. Question: Why? What made you decide to go to college, or to return this year? What are you planning to do with the indoctrination you are about to endure? Make no bones about it, getting that supposedly-important piece of paper referred to as a degree is an endurance test. It’s just to see how much you will put up with before you wise up and realize most of what you’re going to be required to endure will have little application five years from now.

It would be amusing to think about, until you realize just how much money you are paying to this institution, essentially to have someone supervise your reading of books. Will your boss appreciate just how much indoctrination you endured here, or will she only care about your ability to perform the job for which you’ve been hired? Is that why you’re here? So you will be able to get a job afterward and spend the rest of your life working for someone else? Or are you here because you’ve found a skill that you need to modify in order to improve your quality of life?

You should know that there are three sure-fire career paths that will result in mediocrity, at best. If your chosen career path is one in government, teaching or working for a large corporation, you are dooming yourself to a life of safety, security, mediocrity and the herd mentality.

Boring, boring, boring.

Why not set your sights a bit higher? There is too much to see and do in this vast world, and the rest of our universe we now find ourselves exploring, to artificially limit your opportunities by choosing a nice, safe, secure, no-thought-required career path.

Oh, I forgot. To reach for the stars requires you to actually engage your brain, and to use your creativity and ingenuity to break out of the conventional molds already created for you by society. It requires effort, perseverance, determination, vision, imagination, sweat, toil and pain. Too much work.

It’s so much easier to sit on the couch and watch game shows or soap operas or reality television. It’s easier to sit at your computer and chat with a stranger, or play video games or surf the Web for hours. Or are you up for more? Do you think you can handle a challenge or five in your life?

Believe it or not, you are supposed to be an adult now. The choices and decisions you are making now will be the foundation on which you will build the rest of your life. What kind of a foundation will you build? Will it be strong enough to endure the challenges you will face in the future? Will that tattoo look so good in five years, when you’re out looking for a job? Or in 40 years, when you’re taking your grandchild to church?

Why are you here? If you don’t know by now, this is sure an expensive place to be contemplating life and its mysteries. You could be using that money to travel the world, experience different cultures and expand your horizons. Or you could use it to go buy a really neat video game.

The choice is yours, and now is the time to make it. You can spend the next few years taking only the bare minimum required to get that slip of paper or you can use your time here to go beyond what is required, to get a real education, and not limit yourself to the indoctrination of the classroom. You’re paying for it, either way. You might as well get a little value for your money.