Trinitonian

‘What New York Couldn’t Teach Me’

“My expectations were higher than they should have been. However, I enrolled in neither a Gen Ed course, nor ‘underwater basket weaving.’ So, I admit that I was a little shocked to see close to 150 university students crowd an aging lecture hall at NYU in lower Manhattan for a course on human rights. But as I sat with my peers, some of whom even fell asleep during the lecture, I was confronted with an unfortunate reality of higher education: dissatisfaction is the norm. For $60,000 a year without room and board, I suppose I expected more than watching students sleep through lectures delivered by chronically overworked adjunct professors. But my experience moving between institutions has shown me that real academic distinction isn’t found simply within "prestigious" reputations. It’s built where learning feels personal, instead of transactional.”

Available online and in print (on Trinity’s campus, so basically nobody has access… sorry) on 5 Sept. 2025