One of my favorite debates recently became article fodder whilst sitting in the front row of my American Government course. It’s a question that I’ve contemplated for a while, which academic philosophy is better: a liberal arts approach or a trade school approach? How well-rounded should our college education make us? I’m an engineer; why do I need to know who that guy who wrote “Hamlet” is? It certainly won’t make my paycheck any larger. Likewise, why do philosophy majors need to understand mathematics? Why do I need to understand Muslim motivations for 9/11?
In case you haven’t heard of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I will swiftly retell it to you in exactly 80 words (omitting the extraneous parts): Plato describes people chained to a wall at the bottom of the cave. They grow up seeing nothing but darkness and knowing nothing but the wall opposite to the one they’re chained to. Then, one is released to view the world. He sees its justice, government, society and beauty. He goes back to the cave to enlighten his fellow prisoners of the beauty of the outside world, and perhaps even release them. However, they call him foolish and ignore him. Anyway, I tell you that story because I have come to this opinion: universities have an obligation to pull us from our caves. Some may say the most important thing you get for your money here is a skill, as if Mississippi State University is a trade school. I say the most important thing anyone can ever acquire is knowledge. Skills are wonderful, but a paycheck will never create true happiness. Then again, happiness won’t pay the bills. Which is more important to you?
Obviously, MSU is a land-grant institution, providing both skills and knowledge. However, it seems that if you interviewed most students here, you would not get that impression. I can only speak from the perspective of engineering, but it seems engineering students do not like philosophy. They don’t like learning about literature, history, religion or art outside of their comfort zone. As long as the walls of our cave are coated with calculus problems, we’re happy. But when the philosophy teacher comes from the outside world, speaking of beautiful knowledge, trying to free us from our bondage, we reply, “You’re foolish, philosophy teacher. Engineering is all that is important.” Someone is willing to save us from our ignorance, but we deny his or her help. To me, this is the most saddening phenomenon in the modern university. It happens at all types of universities, all over the country, to completely different students.
However, all of this has led to my second point on the topic: no one can save you from the cave. You must save yourself. Professors can show you the way but can’t carry you there. We must free ourselves from ignorance, and we have an obligation as citizens of the world to do so. If we never stop to consider contradictory ideas to what the media, our parents and preachers say, we never fully grow into informed, model citizens. However, that isn’t an excuse for being a hipster.
Which leads me to my third and final point: just because you have seen the outside world doesn’t mean the caves are worthless. Inside the caves are still extremely intelligent people who can teach us much. Furthermore, those who have left the cave should not be self-righteous. They are no more fundamentally better than those in darkness. In fact, they have an obligation to free others from the cave and should enjoy doing so.
Lastly, the bright side to this darkness is that the liberation of the mind can start here, at our university. We will get our practical skills and make our inflated paychecks, but will we gain the wisdom to make the right decisions or truly understand other people? An even bigger question: is that even something college can teach you?
 
Tim McGrath is a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering. He can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.