Blog 8: Conversation

The social structure of college poses many questions such as "How does college produce a sense of self-satisfaction," "How does the college atmosphere create a pseudo-environment in which people can find their 'real' self," and "How does college function as a liminal period in which students are more focused on a quest for identity, rather than perfecting and learning skills that will be applied in the work force." This suggests that a defining reason in college selection and choices reflects a self-fulfilling prophecy. Arnold van Gennep discusses stages and social structure in his book "The Rites of Passage." Although he focuses on religious rites of passage he points out that "So great is the incompatibility between the profane and the sacred worlds that a man cannot pass from one to the other without going through an intermediate stage" (Gennep 1). He also states that "as we move from higher to lower levels of civilization, the differences among these grouped become accentuated and their autonomy increases." When applied to young adulthood, the intermediate stage between being a child and adult is occupied by the time in college. Because attending and completing four years of college is a self-fulfilling rite of passage. It is liminal because at this timeframe, the college student is perplexed between two stages of life. Students have four years to use as a blank slate to define who they are. This changing of worlds can be brought into converstaion with Michael Moffatt because he stresses the different "zones of autonomy" of the college student. He also stresses the importance of authority that is weighed over a college student. Furthermore, while assessing a psychological view, Education is an atmosphere full of potential. However, Frank G. Goble points out that one is not fully aware of their strenghts and talents. He is building this concept off of Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. This can be applied to college and brought back into conversation with Moffatt and Gennep because college is a rite of passage, and the needs of attending college are for fulfilling the self prophecies.