Disorganizing the kid

Of all the unflattering representations of Princeton life, it would be hard to rival walking into our fitness center and seeing a student, busily climbing the Stairmaster, while earnestly trying to highlight an economics textbook. It is a sight that many might say exemplifies the maddening workaholic ethos that has taken hold of our college campuses, a sight that would leave David Brooks snickering in smug condemnation. I always stare in befuddled amazement at these too many men and women who for some reason feel it necessary to fill a void of "wasted" time by doing schoolwork; while in the real world this would be unheard of, at Princeton it has slowly become a scarily accepted norm.

If you missed the allusion to David Brooks, I am referring to the author's stinging article in the April 2001 "Atlantic Monthly" where he caustically described the Princeton student as the "Organization Kid." In his unbecoming portrayal of social and academic relations of the student body at Princeton, he quoted some seriously overstressed students who stated that among other things, they had to schedule to meet and talk with their best friends. I would like to think that David Brooks was way off-base when he described the Princeton student as "the Organization Kid," but in my two years here, I have seen a growing number of students who have unwittingly fallen into this stereotype. While David Brooks may have been wrong on a number of key points, he couldn't have been more accurate when he said, "Today's elite kids are likely to spend their afternoons and weekends shuttling from one skill-enhancing activity to the next. By the time they reach college, they take this sort of pace for granted, sometimes at a cost."

In high school, many of us stuffed our schedules with extracurriculars, athletics and student government. Upon arriving at Princeton, it would seem a natural progression to keep exhausting ourselves with clubs, sports and various other initiatives in order to fill the void. Many of us recreate our packed days of high school by joining 8-10 different organizations that (however loosely) hold our interest, in a futile search for a distinctive school identity. When I first came to Princeton, I tried my hand at about 20 different clubs and societies, and even toyed with the idea of walking onto a varsity sports team. I, like many of my friends, was afraid of being left in an abyss of social anonymity by being classified merely as a "student." At Princeton, the mentality, and moreover the mentality of many of our parents, is such that being "just a student" is not good enough, and consequently many of us fill our days with an overkill of clubs and activities in lieu of the finer moments of Princeton life. But moreover, I question the way students are structuring their lives so that what should really be "downtime" is considered "wasted" time and must be supplemented with school work.

I am in no way discounting the importance of community service, campus publications or sports teams, but it does however become a sad day for Princeton when fun time needs to be supplemented with work, and time spent with friends, arguably the defining characteristic of a Princeton education, gets weeded out for a mindless activity or club meeting. The bottom line is, while I may be exaggerating the severity of the "work-while working-out" phenomenon, the notion still represents a collection of Princeton students who overcrowd their schedules with lots of activities merely for the sake of being involved in lots of activities. If students took the time to find one or two groups that they were passionate about, and devoted their time and effort solely to those two things, there would be a very different social and intellectual dynamic on campus. With that said however, one day someone will have to explain to me what it is about our social culture that made being "just a student," so unacceptable. As Samuel Johnson said, "there is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business." Chris Berger is a history major from London. He can be reached at cberger@princeton.edu.