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In a nutshell, if you’d ask me today “would you again go to university” my response would be “yep, but gain practical experience along the way, preferably in an international environment”. You may have ended up already wondering “why’s he rambling about this now”. Quite simple. Since turning my back on international business and law I spread my wisdom at a private college in the less developed world. If you had predicted that sort of thing to me about twenty years ago, I’d have ended up rolling around on the floor laughing my head off. Anyway, I tend to look at the purpose of universities a little different now to my more innocent days as a student. Of course you often need a university degree to do some sort of executive work. The university degree doesn’t necessarily imply that you’re going to make a pot of money. To make a pile of money or to be successful in life (which isn’t the same) it’s a lot more significant to become a self starter, an independently thinking businessman or an entrepreneur. To put it a little provocatively again, based on my experience so far – in particular in the less developed world – there are a bunch too many obedient clerks on college campuses. Tell them to jump, and they ask “how high?”. Needless to mention that yours truly tends to be quite busy making a difference in this respect. In my humble opinion, it boils down to the question “do you want to be popular or consequential?”. Being polarising is great fun. Finally, even
though there are presumably more obedient clerks at colleges and universities
in the less developed world than in the more developed world, it’s definitely
worth studying a semester or a year at such an outfit in the less developed
world. The experience will expand your horizon. Just suss the outfits carefully
out before making a commitment. Among others, worth sussing out may be:
University
of Cape Town in South Africa
ITESM
in Mexico
University
of Colima in Mexico
Peking
University in China
Indian
Institute of Technology in India
To wrap all
this up, yeah do go to university. That outfit will help you think big.
Without going to university I’d most likely still live in Germany. Even
though it may shellshock my valued colleagues a little, don’t study only
while at university. Instead, have a great time there and enjoy yourselves.
After all this, what does college life look like in a Latin American backwater like Colima? In terms of enjoying yourselves and nightlife, that sort of thing boils down to four or five discos in Colima. Even during my more naive and innocent days as a student discos never deserved to be called my cup of tea. But that’s a matter of taste. For good measure, we may chuck in a few good restaurants, nice cafes and cinemas. But as far as nightlife goes, that’s it more or less for students and everbody else in Colima. Finally, we may include the Mexican obsession table dancing. I can’t recall how often students have asked me already to go with them to table dancing. My response is always the same:”I only go to table dancing if you’re sister dances on the table”. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (when yours truly scraped through law school), universities in Western Europe and North America tended to be rather lively places, in particular in terms of political activities. In that respect, things seem to have changed a little. College students in my current Latin American stomping ground form to exception to the rule. To my liking, they tend to be awfully tame. I regard it as one of my responsibilities to fill them with a little political incorrectness and views that deviate from the mainstream. I’ve always like the notion of being an “enfant terrible”. On the other hand, we mustn’t forget that my current stomping ground is located in Latin America. First, the tropical climate there slows activities down a little. Second, I’m tempted to quote Benjamin Disraeli who noted in “Sybil” that the British are “two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts and feelings, as if there were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets: the rich and the poor”. That phrase doesn’t only summarise the social fabric in the land of UK during Disraeli’s time. It also describes very well Mexican and Latin American society – which is characterised by deep class divisions. When parents’ pockets are deep enough their offspring studies at ITESM (with or without a scholarship). In case parents’ pockets are a little less deep their offspring studies at the public University of Colima. No matter how deep parents’ pockets are the result tends to be pretty bloody much the same – the accent is on studying, not on improving the world. Every now and then I manage to recall that sort of thing. It helps me keep things a little in perspective. Final Thoughts Summarising all this, university contributed a great deal to my variety of thinking big. In case you get the opportunity give it a go. If possible, do include a semester or a year at an outfit overseas. In case you’re inclined to do so, do that sort of thing off the beaten track. Following crowds tends to be as uninspiring as working for the post office. What you study may be a matter of secondary importance. The chances are presumably slim that you’re gonna end up working in that field until retirement. And slim is rumoured to have caught a bus out of town. The following is a list of articles written by Jurgen for the magazine:
To contact
Jurgen Click Here
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Some
Thoughts On Living In Latin America ~ 