Graduation Contract

Alright, here’s the deal: I go to a small liberal arts college in southern California that has an alternative/progressive/hippy program that allows me to design my own education. No prerequisites for classes, no grades (written evaluations instead) and less than a handful of basic requirements (contracts, study abroad, etc). I had to go to this place. I hated high school and if I had to do take one more required course against my will I was going to lose it. Essentially, I just wanted control of my education.

The Johnston Center at the University of Redlands lets me drive my own educational path. Well, I’m currently in the midst of my sophomore year which is when we have to make a lot of large decisions. Where should I study abroad? Should I do that honors program? What should my emphasis be?

Instead of majors, we write graduation contracts which consist of a narrative and a course listing. The title of your grad contract is your “emphasis” which is kind of like a major, except you make it up. Just the way “make it up” sounds kind of cheapens the process which is legitimate. Promise. Anyways, you write it, go to a committee of staff and students and are passed, rejected, or supposed to revise your contract. I only have to make a few minor revisions and I’m good to go.

So I’m sitting here, having woken up way too early, finally trying to make those few changes as anxiety builds. I’m staring at a piece of paper that has my academic soul splayed out all over it. Quite exposed. I have all of the control I wanted but now I rail against it. I don’t want to pigeon-hole myself now. Will I be interested in this stuff in ten years? Two years? Hell if I know.

I’m just being a bit neurotic I suppose. It’s all funny in  a way. My emphasis is “Funny People: Observing Cognition Through Humor,” meaning I want to know what makes people tick and how to make them laugh. I’m well aware that “Funny People” is the title of the most recent Judd Apatow film. I had seen that movie before I began writing a solid grad contract draft, but I didn’t realize until a few weeks after it was done that I had completely stolen the title. It also took me months to realize the awesome double meaning of the title. Funny as in haha, but also as in odd, messed up, or otherwise strange. I didn’t realize that until Judd Apatow said that in the commentary of the movie that I accidentally stole my emphasis from. I mean c’mon!

Anyways, what makes people tick and humor. That’s what I’m all about according to my contract, so I hope it stays that way. I don’t want to reach senior year and wonder why I took so many psychology classes. I’m not nearly as concerned for my love of humor. I’d like to be a successful stand-up comedian, but that’s the sort of career you’re not supposed to count on. I get why, but sometimes I daydream about getting a small apartment in LA and just hitting comedy clubs night after night, even doing a stand-up tour. That’d be insane! But that’s another post for another time.

Point is, you don’t get to avoid growing up because you went to college, hippy or normal. I’m going to finish revising my grad contract, knowing it reflects me at present and praying it reflects me once I’m actually grown up. I’m also going to keep daydreaming. College might not be that time I learned a lot (although I already have), it might end up being that time I was at a camp for older kids and sharpened my sense of humor. Life can be funny like that.