Higher Education

Having spent half my life growing up in Asmara, Eritrea, the summer season was always evident by the arrival of the “Beleze”, which is a Tigrinya word for a fruit that comes from the cactuses which are predominant in the Eritrean highlands. But it’s also Eritrean slang for the youth of the Diaspora, the children of Eritreans who left during the 1961-1991 revolutionary war & relocated in various countries, mostly in north America, Europe & the middle east. I suppose I could claim to be one since I was born & raised in Saudi Arabia, but that’s irrelevant since I also grew up in Eritrea, implying that I have the best of both worlds. These young Eritreans were called this because, like the fruit, they were mostly around during the summer season, which is, for them, a time for fun, cavorting & opportunities to engage in some extra-curricular altercations with the local population. I remember meeting a group of such individuals, who were college students, bragging about their college lives in some west coast institute of higher learning. To them, it was to be 4 years of parties, alcohol consumption, drugs & sex. Being a graduate of the University of Asmara, I guess I can say that I missed those classes.
College has always had a bit of a turbulent relationship with society. To the parents of students, it’s an opportunity for their children to not only gain life skills that would serve them in the real world, but also to cultivate hidden talents & contacts that would also help them in the long run. To the faculty, it’s a responsibility to impart their knowledge & wisdom upon them fresh young minds, in order to shape them into tomorrow’s leaders, functionaries & possibly the greatest minds. To the students, not excluding those who actually go to college to get a higher education, it’s a turning point, a crossroad between adolescences & adulthood. However, all these points are correct, but at the same time, they are inconsequentially beside the point.
I graduated from the University of Asmara with a degree in journalism & mass communication, prompting people to believe that the Eritrean educational system is quite effective, for reasons that, I would like to think, have nothing to do with my above-average grasp of the English language. Although I will admit, my writing improved significantly during my tenure there, it was not because of the academics, but rather because of the persistence of the risk of failure. But more than that, it was because the institution opened my eyes to the world around me & beyond.
I believe that the basis of a college education is not for people to learn live skills that, albeit questionably, help them secure their futures, but it is instead, an eye-opening experience to the world around them. But more than that, it’s a journey of self-discovery. College stands to allow a person to explore his options, to attempt new things, to expand their horizons & to attempt something that would take most people a lifetime to ascertain, what it is they truly want in life.
My goals & hopes for life are mine & mine alone. I would not choose to share them here, but I will say that my 4 years in college allowed me to pursue the joy that I derive from my own self-expression. It’s a chance for me to look across the expanse of the world that I inhabit & challenge the status quo to hold me back. I know who I am & what I can do & I discovered this through college.
Ultimately, it’s just another chapter in ones life. Not college exactly, but higher education, be it academic or practical. It’s the final step that will determine whether you have reached adulthood or whether you will forever be the child trapped in the big bad world.
The greatest tragedy is for one to become old too fast & wise too late. We can only strive to not fall in this tragedy.