Everyone who chose to receive his or her degree at DePauw University must believe in the power of a liberal arts education.
We learn our skills and gather information with the understanding that we are on the path to being corporately and personally successful. We are in the process of becoming well spoken, knowledgeable and active members of society.
This metamorphosis is not passive, however. It takes conscious effort and will to expand your thinking into the mold created by the liberal arts.
The saying goes that a liberal arts education is here to teach us "how to think", and this knowledge of "how to think" is more important than any of the factual information we learn in the classroom.
Yet nobody ever comes out and tells us exactly how to think because that would fundamentally go against the liberal arts belief that everyone's experiences and beliefs are just as valuable and real as anyone else's. It becomes very easy and unconscious to interpret your experiences in terms of DePauw; who you talk to, what you wear, what you do and what you think about.
This type of thinking is selfish. Don't get me wrong; everyone thinks about himself or herself. A lot. I'm not saying the default selfish and small view of the world is "wrong;" however, this thinking is easy and shallow.
Only you get to decide what is capital T True, but make sure it is a conscious decision. Realize you filter your own world. Nobody, not DePauw, not your parents, not your peers, can determine what you think about or how you think.
-Junger is a sophomore English literature and biology major from St. Louis.