In January 2009, Pennsylvania hip-hop artist Asher Roth told the world how much he loved college. His hit song “I Love College” proved to be the highlight of his career just as it was beginning. Roth, 23 at the time, was a recent graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvania, an institution at which he had had quite an enjoyable experience according to his music.
However, how typical was Roth’s college experience, and how "crazy" did he really go at university? Most of us were still in the early years of high school when his hit song was released, and its popularity led many to believe that all of the myths they had heard about college were true. Parties everyday, questionable hook-ups, drinking, drugs, music and not a homework assignment to be heard of.
Roth became the 21st century torch-bearer of the college legends originally put forth by "Animal House" in 1978. Roth told us that it is not the education you receive from college that is important, but rather the stories you acquire, the people you meet and the fun you potentially may have.
At the song’s chantable conclusion, Roth instructs listeners to sing along with him to the words, “Do something crazy, do something crazy! Keg stand, keg stand.”
Well, I’m here to say something to you, Asher Roth: a keg stand just isn’t that crazy. Your advice is weak, your song is typical and you have done nothing to capture what it really means to be a college student today. You may have loved college, but it sounds like it was actually pretty boring.
As we journey through the first 18 years of our education in pursuit of college, we are constantly told what to expect from the university experience by various sources. Parents, teachers and academic advisors put forth information about which university might be the most suitable experience to continue following the subjects you thrived in during grade school. Older friends and family might have told you some of their experiences about the balance between work and play and how college has changed over the years. However, one of the strongest influences is undoubtedly the media, both journalistic and fictional.
News reports tell us rankings to influence where we go to school and report on which schools host the biggest parties or have the riskiest environments. Movies, books and television tell us what kind of "crazy" experiences we will be having in college in an attempt to offer an alternative perspective on what it’s really like.
But the fact of the matter is that no matter what "crazy" things Roth tells you to do, you are the ultimate commander of your experience. If you enter college with the widest perspective possible, you stand to have the most unique experience and do things that aren’t what the media tells you are "crazy" but things that are crazy for you.
Really pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone, getting involved in organizations you know nothing about, becoming friends with people you never thought you’d even wave to — these are the things that truly define a unique college experience.
Now that my time at Emory is almost up, I can firmly tell you and Asher Roth that doing a keg stand just isn’t that crazy. You know why? Because he told us it was. Outside factors like family, friends and media cannot be the driving forces in what you determine to be crazy and unique. These experiences that you crave from college can only be found and achieved through introspection and action.
Rather than looking and listening outside for all the things you think you should be doing in college, look into yourself for a minute and truly ask what you think you should be doing in college. If you want to do something that’s truly crazy, ask yourself what boundaries you’d like to push, what rules you might like to defy and what different types of people you want to meet.
If you look inside yourself and doing a keg stand is still the craziest college experience you can think of, then run with it, but at least take the time to sit down and have a nice chat with yourself about it first.
Bobby Weisblatt is a College senior from Belle Mead, New Jersey.
Do Something Crazy, Not a Keg Stand
Photo Courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons: NRK P3
