The Purpose of Universities

Attending college has always been something I dreamed of since I was a little kid. I always knew I wanted to go to college, and I worked really hard throughout my school years to become ready for the big transition into college life. I see college as a major transition period between our childhood and adulthood. College is such an important time in our lives, and I believe there are several goals of universities for students to pursue. Going to college, especially the University of Texas, offers so many opportunities for students to take advantage of in order to learn and grow.

One major purpose of universities is for students to acquire knowledge that will help them in the future. Universities should teach students information and knowledge to prepare the future generation for successful careers. We, as students, learn so much in our classes from both our professors and our peers. Even though we may not use all the knowledge we gain, we are still learning skills through acquiring that knowledge. Many times throughout my middle school and high school years, I have thought, “What is the point of learning this? I am never going to use this in my future.” Whenever I complained about this, my dad always replied, “You are learning how to learn.” This is so true. Through learning new material and interacting with teachers and classmates, we learn how to use knowledge to create solutions. We learn time management, study skills, and how to work with others. All these skills are essential for the rest of our lives, whether in pursuing a career or raising a family. In order to better prepare ourselves for the future, universities focus on learning that is “based on discovery guided by mentoring rather than on the transmission of information” (337). We are not just given facts and equations to memorize, even though sometimes this is the case. In many of my classes, we are graded on class participation. This allows us to see how we work with others. Also, everything is not just spoon fed to us. We are forced to read directions and figure out solutions to problems. Many professors “insist that [students] create their own topics and pursue them without interference as much as possible” (337). I think this is a great teaching theory because it teaches students how to learn things on their own. This is connected back to our topic on the right side versus the left side of the brain. Universities are more and more not just geared towards teaching to the left side of the brain. Instead, we are encouraged to use the right creative side of our brain through discovery learning and computerized hypermedia. Students gain much knowledge while attending a university.

Our precious years spent at the University of Texas are also a time for us to grow as a person. As we are making the transition from childhood to adulthood, another purpose of universities is to offer students a time to grow into the person they will be. Up until now, our lives have been greatly affected by our parents or guardians. Our parents were the ones who told us when to do things, told us to go to school, told us when to eat, taught us values, and supported us with a place to live and food to eat. While many of our parents are still supporting us through college, we are still given a huge amount of responsibility and freedom. We are on our own now and make our decisions for ourselves. We take what we have learned up until now and form ourselves into who we want to be. College is a time for us to grow into independent adults. Universities offer students a chance “to learn as much as they can about the nature of being human, about the history and diversity of their own society, about other cultures, about how individuals and societies are likely to react to crises such as 9/11…” (319). We need to learn what we want in ourselves. It is important to learn about the diversity in our world and the various cultures in order to understand our own self and culture. Our relationships teach us many things about ourselves and how we get along with others as well as the qualities we want our potential friends or loved ones to possess. As we learn all these things, we are growing and developing into the person we are going to become for our lives.

As you can see, universities have numerous goals and purposes for us students to take advantage of while we are here. Our time spent at the university is a time for us to learn much knowledge as well as grow into the person we want to be. It is our time to figure out what we want to accomplish in life and create our own sense of identity. While I am here at the University of Texas, I truly hope to figure out what I want in life and prepare myself for a happy and successful future.

*The first picture shows a group of students working together, which is a great part of college both inside and outside the classroom. It is an essential life skill to learn.

*The second picture shows the lit up tower at the University of Texas which represents the many ideals and purposes of the university.

Losses and Gains of Childhood

Childhood is a wonderful time in our lives and consists of many memories. Some of these are happy memories, while others are sad. All of these experiences, however, hold one thing in common. The memories we remember stick out in our minds because they are significant in some way. We learn from each situation we encounter and treasure each memory. From the moment we are born, we go through experience after experience trying to find a place in this world to fit in and learning who we really are. Many important things occur in our childhood, including both losses and gains.

We have all suffered loss at many times throughout our lives. In particular, we have all faced losses during our childhood, especially the loss of innocence. We are born as innocent children, with no knowledge or wisdom. As “The Mystery” shows, “as long as we go on feeling this mystery we feel free and full and happy” (179). This principle can be seen in the perspective of a carefree child. As we begin to grow up, we encounter many situations each day. With each experience we are faced with, we learn something that can be used in our future. As we move on to each step of our lives, we lose the innocence we once had piece by piece. For instance, when we go to school for the first time, we are faced with many things for the first time. While we encounter situations with our peers, we see a larger perspective of the world and see that everything is not perfect as we once believed. Sometimes we are faced with temptations, and especially as innocent people, sometimes we will fall into these temptations. A great example of temptation can be seen in the book of Genesis. God created Adam and Eve as perfect, innocent humans. The serpent, on the other hand, was full of evil. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve by telling them “the tree was good to eat ... and that it was desirable for the knowledge it could give” (611). Although they believed they would gain much wisdom by eating the forbidden fruit, they actually were led to punishment from disobeying God's words, "You must not eat it" (611). Also, we all lose something or some person at one point in our childhood, whether it is the loss of a grandparent, the loss of a pet, or the loss of a special toy. For example, in the Girls with Mothers Behind Bars lecture, we watched clips of what the young children felt as they lost their mothers to prison. When I saw the young daughter crying in the arms of her mother when it was time to leave, it reminded me of a loss I faced during my childhood. When I was in fourth grade, my grandfather on my mom’s side and my grandmother of my dad’s side both passed away 24 hours apart. Having never lost a person to death, I was devastated, losing two grandparents in two days. I couldn't believe it. It was one of the hardest times in my life. I had to go to two funerals in one week and say goodbye for the last time to two very influential people in my life. Facing loss can be extremely difficult, especially to a child. We wish we could hold on to some things forever, but when we lose something significant, we realize that nothing lasts forever.

Although we face losses in the course of our childhood, we also go encounter positive experiences in which we achieve great gains. We face people and situations that teach us lessons that will guide us for the rest of our lives. We learn who we are and what we believe in. We grow into the person we are with the morals and values we treasure. I have many great memories of my childhood that stick out in my mind. Some of the best memories include family reunions. I have always been extremely close to not only my immediate family, but my extended family as well. In my childhood, I spent much of my time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I will never forget the highly anticipated yearly trip to Austin for “extravaganzas.” I would travel to Austin to visit my grandparents in the summer with my parents, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. All of us would stay at my grandparents’ house, and my grandparents had fun things planned for us for the week. We had talent shows, magic shows, played in the woods, climbed up to the balcony on the roof to look out of the telescope to see the endless Austin hills, and many more fun activities. Not only having so much fun with my relatives, I have learned many lessons from my family. Through many experiences, they have taught me to always try my best, to persevere in the presence of obstacles, and have always been supportive of me no matter what happens. The lessons I have learned I will always hold and will use for the rest of my life. I will treasure the fond memories made. Even though I don’t still have the privilege to spend time with my grandparents that have passed away, I am thankful for all that they gave me and will always keep and hold all the great wisdom and wonderful memories they have given me.

The many special times of our childhood give us many opportunities to grow to be a better person. As we go through the various phases of childhood, we experience many gains and losses. We learn how to handle many situations and learn many lessons along the way. Sometimes, we may make bad decisions when we are tempted, but we can learn from these mistakes to grow into better people. As we grow older, we gain more and more knowledge each day and simultaneously lose our innocence. While we move on to achieve greater things, we are forced to leave behind some things. All we have to carry on is the knowledge we have gained and the memories we have made.

**The first picture shows a group of happy, innocent, carefree children. The second picture shows supportive parents, who are very influential in children’s lives and teach children many lessons.

Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue

I found this discussion topic to be extremely interesting and informative. The meeting opened up with an introduction from a member of the University Interfaith Council (UIC). He explained how diversity is a big concept at the University of Texas. There are so many students representing various different races, languages, and religions. He told us the purpose of student organizations, like UIC and IDSA (Islamic Dialogue Student Association), was to encourage interfaith dialogue. There are many benefits of interfaith dialogue, the main one being to remove prejudices. These student organizations provide a safe place for students to discuss and learn about their differences. This is important because we all know differences can result in major conflicts and war.

We then split up into small groups to discuss many aspects about interfaith dialogue. Our group leader, Colin, led us in discussion with questions. First, we discussed why interfaith dialogue is important. This concept of interfaith dialogue helps us to clear up common misconceptions of other religions and helps bring us all together. It allows us to open up about religion and get to know people for who they are, not just what they believe in. Another topic our group discussed was what we can to in practice to overcome our cultural and religious differences. The most important thing is to be open minded to others’ beliefs in order to achieve well rounded beliefs. Some common grounds we came up with in which we can bring together people of different faiths included eating together, participating in community service, and planning social activities such as bowling. These activities can be helpful in bringing us all together in a setting for everyday conversation to get past our religious boundaries.

Two student organizations on campus have the same goal of encouraging interfaith dialogue. The two organizations I learned about at the discussion are the UIC and the IDSA. Some of the programs the organizations have put on and are trying to put on include field trips such as tours of Buddhist and Hindu temples, active discussions, and student presentations. All these have a common thread of learning about other religions and bridging the gap. These groups provide a place for people to get together to talk about controversial issues and explore and clarify the various stands taken. The UIC meets two times a month, usually on Wednesdays, but takes field trips on weekends.

Our small group also discussed what religious differences we wanted to learn. For instance, we talked about how people really come to learn their religion. Some people believe in their religion because of their family background and tradition. We talked about the importance in learning other religions to know your religion better. If you don’t know what else is out there, you won’t know what you truly believe. Some members in our group wanted to learn how other religions celebrate important milestones like births, marriages, and death. Others were more passionate about learning of the history of different religions and the celebration of past events. We talked about what motivates us to learn about other religions. Reasons were brought up including religions are geared to knowing philosophical questions like who am I and why am I here. Some were motivated to learn what others’ emphasis is because certain things are more important to some people. Also, there are many branches even in the same religion, so it is interesting to learn about the other branches. Also, a key concept we discussed was what we can do to establish peace on our campus. I thought that was interesting because I think that is connected to our world because many conflicts are started because of differences like religion. We discussed the importance of making friends with people of other cultures and religions in order to learn about them and to be more open minded to others’ beliefs.

I thought this discussion was very interesting, and I think it is something we can all work on. Interfaith dialogue is something we can begin practicing every day just by being open minded to others and learning about other religions in order to prevent the many common misconceptions in our world today.

Red McCombs: A Well Rounded Role Model

The University of Texas at Austin has a saying that goes, “What starts here changes the world.” I truly believe this saying is true. So many awesome individuals have passed through this incredible university. Now, we are here on the very same 40 acres and have been blessed with the experience of following in our predecessors footsteps. The university is such a large campus, as we all know. If we don’t make an effort to get involved and make an impact, we will just blend in with the 50,000 students that walk on this campus. By being accepted and choosing to attend the University of Texas, we are given a great opportunity. However, we must make an effort in order to take advantage of the endless possibilities offered.

After reading through the assigned readings, I noted some of the incredible role models who made a tremendous impact at the University of Texas. One of these role models in particular stuck out in my mind. As I leave my dorm every day, I pass by the McCombs School of Business on my way to class. I am majoring in economics right now, but it is my dream to get accepted to the highly ranked McCombs School of Business. Before this assignment, I never knew anything about the person that the business school was named after, other than his name. Red McCombs attended the University of Texas in 1948 and took full grasp of the opportunities offered to him. Red McCombs is a “San Antonio entrepreneur” and has “made his fortune as an automobile dealer” (936). After reading up on Red McCombs, I have become even more inspired to grow into such a well rounded person as McCombs was. He has become a very successful business man, as he is the owner of “the sixth-largest auto conglomerate in the US and an NFL football team” (936). However, McCombs has not only conquered the business world, as you can see from his wide array of passions. McCombs held a crucial part in “bringing Sea World and the Alamodome to San Antonio,” which illustrates his dedication to the citizens of his hometown (936). McCombs has immense passion for the community as his “generous philanthropy has gained national attention” (936). While McCombs has climbed the ladder from a small town boy to huge success, he does not keep it for himself. He has made some of the most outstanding donations including the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the women’s athletics department at the university, as well as his $50 million donation to the University’s Business School. McCombs has received numerous awards rewarding his outstanding contributions and support to the business world as well as the community. It truly inspires me to read about an individual who became a successful businessman, while at the same time staying so involved in many philanthropic and leadership roles.

I believe having role models is so important in life. I have admired more role models than I can count throughout my 18 years of life. Role models give individuals of all ages so many helpful ideas to succeed. Role models help us set goals for what we desire to be. When you find a real life example of an individual you aspire to be like, it helps you take the steps to accomplish what you want. Role models can be inspirations to us when times get rough. Even our role models were faced with obstacles and failures. It helps to see other’s problems and how they solved them to keep us on track in the right direction. Admiring a role model’s character traits can also greatly help an individual. Even if your role model didn’t accomplish the same things you want to, you can witness their drive, determination, and courage and work towards possessing the same traits. I greatly admire the quality traits McCombs possess including his drive, determination, dedication, courage, and loyalty. He holds true to these highly admired traits in all aspects of his life. Also, role models show us that things are possible. Even when we get discouraged, we can see the many accomplishments of our predecessors. Red McCombs has given me confidence to pursue my dreams and passions, and he has shown me that it is possible to accomplish many great things throughout my life. My dream is to take these years in college as an excellent opportunity as the foundation for my future. I desire to attain a successful career and to continue staying involved in my community, while holding true to my morals and values. We need to live up to our dreams, as we are the future generation’s role models.