The Good Life

Bernie Machen, the president of UF has boiled the purpose of college to three concise bullet points. Dr. Machen states that the main purposes of college are to find yourself, prepare for a career and contribute to the world around you. He continues to emphasize that if you accomplish all three of these things then you will be able to answer the question "What is the good life?". Ironically enough that is the name of a course at the University of Florida and required for all incoming freshman. Dr. Machen says that this class stands as a unifying foreground for students, who otherwise would not have anything in common besides cheering for the Gators on game day. I believe that this statement has a lot of merit, and that by taking a course like "What is the Good Life" (or this course) helps other students to discover themselves and their similarities with their fellow peers. In the beginning of Bernie Machen's speech he invites his listeners to question everything, themselves included. By inviting people to question things he is actually encouraging interaction and communication. He is also posing the question of how can you know yourself if you don't understand the humanities (so to speak) around you. Humans learn via comparison and when we learn about new things it causes us to consider our own beliefs and form our own opinions.

I think that a class like this can help oneself discover the good life. When one learns about society, cultures, behaviors and so on they begin to understand the very world they live in. By understand your surroundings you can better self identify and communicate with others. I think that if I had a better understanding of myself and others I may be able to contribute to this world in a better way than I am already. The real purpose of college for me is self discovery. By preparing for a career and contributions I believe you can achieve self discovery. As a senior in high school I started saying that my main goal in life was to reach enlightenment. I always pictured it as a content place where I was unaffected by all the negativity around me. It has only been a short week in this class but I am already starting to redefine my enlightment. Enlightment should/can be recieved when someone understands their place in the world (and they are content with themselves) so that they can contribute to the world that is both helpful and fulfilling for themselves and others.