Sundancing- This was Big!

Holy heck, friends! This week has taught me more practical life skills than my whole 20 something years of education combined...and maybe that's why I'm so exhausted. Like four hours of sleep per night, running around from 7am until past midnight, standing in the cold for a long time kind of tired, but it's a good thing! Speaking of, last night I saw a doc that was about America's education system that just got me so stoked. In more detail, it was about how our world is changing and all of the jobs that we built our education system around during the industrial revolution are disappearing due to advancements in technology. Therefore, our education- teaching for the test, is no longer a practical way of doing things, but it gets more complicated. We as students work our butts off to get good ACT and SAT scores in order to get into college. Here is the problem, that prepares us for nothing and also, unemployment is really high and the value of obtaining a college degree has weakened vastly.

In my years as a college student I have learned all of these things far too well. I worked so hard in high school to get into my dream school that I literally made myself sick. I got in, but because I am middle class, I did not have the financial need to get money to help me go to said school. I then get to college and amidst sitting in a huge lecture hall it dawned on me that none of that mattered and none of my current professors even knew if I was smart or not. As my college career continued and I felt as though I was at a loss for what I was supposed to choose to do with my life because I didn't know the things I liked to do, or didn't like to do, just that I was average to a little above average at a lot of subjects and the occasional hobby because I never really had hands on experience doing things.
Now, as a senior in my final semester of undergrad I have realized that in the last year, which has included studying abroad for a year, working a few jobs (one in another country,) traveling solo to Sundance, and jet setting to various cities on a budget for interviews, I have learned more practical life skills that will help me in the real world than all of the years of sitting in a classroom combined. Furthermore, I have come to be a little bothered, as an International Studies major, that higher education for me and many others has really only entailed hands on research of other academics. Yes, Adam Smith and Kenneth Waltz have contributed important theories to the world, but A) I am not the next Adam Smith and B) most of the academics theororizing are just that, academics. Not all, but only a few actually have real experience with the things they write about. So why then I ask am I assigned to read and regurgitate these peoples thoughts? I often feel that I am assigned not only busy work, but work that is using up time where I could be learning more valuable skills, like maybe interacting with people of the non-western world, not just reading about them or learning how to navigate the stock market and not simple read about how a free market works. Let's not even mention that going to a large research institution has the potential to focus educators attention on their own research and no longer tuition paying, indebted students.

I think there are a lot of questions to be asked and examined here and I am very happy to have seen "Most Likely to Succeed" which is trying to begin this discussion. I am also very excited for the students in these charter schools whom, through watching on the screen, I know will be ahead of their peers like myself come the end of undergrad when it is no longer a garuntee, or even likely, that we will be able to find a job let alone start a career.

Anyway, enough of my soapbox. As I mentioned above Sundance has taught me a whole whole lot. Not only have I gotten a more clear understanding of the inner workings of the entertainment industry, but I have also learned about the art and making of film, but the most valuable thing I learned is how to truly network. A sweet friend hooked me up with some friends of hers while she is halfway across the world in Cambodia. That evening I had the privilege of meeting these lovely people and learning more about their company at an even they hosted here at Sundance. Upon walking into this event I met a nice man who found out who I am and what I want to do. Slowly he began introducing me to various people in the room, then telling me what conversations to step into and who to introduce myself to. Soon enough I was walking around the room meeting all kinds of interesting people and exchanging business cards. As the night came to a close I shook a few more hands and thanked the gentleman and his friend who started me off. They gave me a few last networking tips, words of encouragement, and compliments on my demeanor. The most satisfying thing out of all of this though friends, is that I had just learned something invaluable- how to work a room. What is even cooler is that it was with people I hope to someday work for or with- people who support faith in film, raised the conversation in Hollywood and managed to bring it to Sundance. I have no doubt that the good Lord brought me here, had this planned, and I will never regret spending the money and missing class time to learn these skills, experience this art, and hear others stories.