What is home? According to the famous American poet Maya Angelou, it is, “the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
As the semester comes to a close and many students have begun to solidify their summer plans, I have repeatedly asked myself this question. Although I have already been offered an internship back at home, I find myself continuously looking at other internship programs to replace it. And talking to my friends, it appears that I am not alone. The repeated trend I hear is: “I just can’t be home the entire summer.”
Why do we feel the need to replace our homes, the places where we’ve grown up for most, if not all, of our entire lives? For some students, staying home may simply be boring compared to a thrilling internship in a far off country or in the heart of a bustling metropolis like New York. However, for many, the problem stems from something deeper.
After all, doesn’t home offer us a place to escape the constant questioning and competition that we are sometimes inclined to feel at a competitive school like Princeton?
It appears that even outside of FitzRandolph gate, Princeton students are not able to evade this judgment. Students are afraid of the stigma that comes with being home for the entire summer.
While Princeton’s employment rate is higher than most other schools, with 86.6 percent of the Class of 2013 achieving their post graduation plans six months after graduating, there are still a significant 13.4 percent of Princeton graduates who are unsatisfied with how things turn out.
With this in mind, it is no wonder that many students fear looking unproductive compared to their peers who are participating in intense jobs or research over the summer. As Princeton students, we might feel that we cannot afford to waste any of our time, even if we’re on breaks.
This fear becomes exacerbated for low-income first generation students. To these students, they might fear that going home would be a symbol of failure to their family. A full ride to an Ivy League school is a golden ticket, a way to escape and achieve the desired socioeconomic mobility encapsulated in the American Dream. To go back home for the summer while our peers are out in the world doing great things is to admit defeat.
Furthermore, for these students, home may not be the “safe place” that Angelou was thinking of. To some, home might be a place filled with the memories of struggles and tribulations. When I went back home for winter recess, it was bittersweet. Although I was happy to see my family and friends again, I was also saddened to revisit the poor conditions to which my family has been subjected for my entire life. I couldn’t imagine having to be in a place like that again for almost four months.
After being at Princeton, a place with a myriad of resources, I have become confused as to where my true home is. Is it back at my run-down house in Guam? Or my little dorm room in Wilson?
College is a strange time in our lives, when we have to move from our nests and are forced to discover the world for ourselves. However, I sometimes wonder if I will ever be able to call Princeton my home. With recent events on campus involving students of color making claiming, “Princeton was never made for students like me,” I wonder where home will be throughout the rest of my years here.
No matter whether I’m in Princeton, Guam or somewhere else, I feel that I cannot escape the expectations placed upon me. It’s as if I’m in this limbo state of homelessness, unable to truly feel comfortable wherever I am, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I guess all I can do is to continue my Princeton career with the hopes that I’ll be able to figure it out along the way.
Matthew Choi Taitano is a freshman fromYigo, Guam. He can be reached at mtaitano@princeton.edu.
Read More
Princeton must move towards a world-changing curriculum
Luqmaan Bamba“If we in the Orange Bubble are supposed to be taught how to be changemakers, our education should not just stop at learning about change but also extend to the tangible application of it.”
“If we in the Orange Bubble are supposed to be taught how to be changemakers, our education should not just stop at learning about change but also extend to the tangible application of it.”
Statement of solidarity with Columbia University students from Princeton faculty and staff
Guest ContributorsIn an open letter, Princeton University faculty and staff express solidarity with Columbia University and Barnard College student protestors by boycotting the universities until their demands are met.
In an open letter, Princeton University faculty and staff express solidarity with Columbia University and Barnard College student protestors by boycotting the universities until their demands are met.
Princetonians want political change. Why don’t more of us take action?
Frances Brogan“Understanding that this is how activism works — collectively — can empower people to go to protests and meetings because it undermines the stereotype that being an “activist” is an undesirable individual identity and the misconception that only people with that “identity” label can contribute.”
“Understanding that this is how activism works — collectively — can empower people to go to protests and meetings because it undermines the stereotype that being an “activist” is an undesirable individual identity and the misconception that only people with that “identity” label can contribute.”
