Flowing with the mainstream

You can't change the world if you aren't willing to alter your schedule a little. Nothing changes when everyone is working to keep things the same.

Is Oberlin a typical, midwest college or is it something more? Yes, it is stressful and yes, we are all on an upper-middle-class graduate school house-in-the-country track if we so desire. But, hopefully, we will take more than an income (and a debt) away from this place when we leave. Hopefully we will take away a tradition of standing up for what we believe in.

An example of this tradition is the protesting by students in Oberlin Animal Rights over vivisection in the neuroscience lab and animal testing everywhere. Whether or not it was the best idea to interrupt class is not as important as the fact that students were doing what they felt was important. They were performing revolutionary acts in what could be and has been a revolutionary school.

Oberlin has a long tradition of protesting societal injustices. There are many things that student protestors today could learn from the past. They could learn how to be more effective. Oberlin has often been about controversy and turmoil, and many professors could educate students about activism more often. Protest does not always have to be a student versus administration thing, or a student versus society thing. It can be about a community coming together and learning how to change the status quo for the better.

This is not about the sanctity of life or the importance of neuroscience. It's about getting caught up in the status quo. And thinking about what that stands for and why maybe it's not something to get tangled up in.

Once you are flowing easily with the mainstream it is hard to get out. So before that happens maybe we all should pull up onto the shore for a moment and take a hard look at the water.