Leave Your Seniority at the (Garage) Door

They say older students have an edge over the younger ones because they have more life experience under their belt, and as a result, they're more succinctly aware of the "important" things in life.

Although "important" is a relative term, it's safe to say one gains more wisdom with each passing year. If you come from a background such as myself, trivial things like what someone is wearing or who's sleeping with who rarely cross your mind.

Being a creative writer, I see inspiration in everything - particularly in the way humans interact. Writing is all about dialogue, and the best way to keep it as realistic as possible is to listen to everyday conversation.

College campuses are a breeding ground for inspiration, but some of the behavior I see and the conversations I hear leave something to be desired.

When I made the decision two years ago to pursue higher education, I thought my high school years were a thing of the past. You know how some people say they'd go back to high school in a heartbeat if given the chance? I'm definitely not one of those people. If my decision were contingent on hell freezing over, I'd gladly submit to the ice before agreeing to return to high school.

I realize a good portion of college students are fresh out of high school, but it seems as if some have a hard time letting go of the high school mindset. They care a great deal about appearance, they love hearing a juicy piece of gossip about a classmate (whom they probably don't know personally), and they continue to wear their "Seniors Rule!" t-shirts long after graduation has passed. I'm sure grad night at Disneyland was great and all, but really - clothing expressing high school pride and/or declarations of "seniority" have no place on a college campus.

Admittedly, my disdain over the high school leftovers infecting our campus is partially rooted in the negative memories I have toward my own high school experience. I've always been eerily mature for my age, and as such I've never been able to relate well to high school students - even when I was in high school myself.

I'm not bitter because I didn't fit in, mind you - I simply feel that 99% of teenagers don't have the capacity to think about things beyond homecoming dances and reality television. If you're part of the other 1%, you're basically screwed when it comes to the adolescent hierarchy.

I think the greatest concern I have with the entire issue at hand is that I find it extremely difficult to have a mature conversation with this type of student. I'm not a fan of gossip, I don't care about looking like a beauty queen when I go to school, and I haven't watched MTV in years. Furthermore, my life is not perpetuated by Myspace or the latest love triangle on "The Hills".

These facts alone make me feel as if I have nothing to contribute to the conversation, much less take away anything significant from it.

Rather than complain about things, I like to propose solutions to them. But to be perfectly candid, the academic generation gap continues to leave me perplexed. Essentially, we're only talking about a difference of a few years, but it feels like a lifetime. Sometimes I feel like a Golden Girl trapped in a Muppet society.

The only solution I can think of at this point is time and patience - patience for us senior citizens on campus, and time for the recently-graduated seniors. Years of time.

Perhaps one special eighteen-year-old will waltz into my life and shatter my ideologies one day. Anything's possible.

In the meantime, a word of advice from your resident patron of wisdom: leave the "Seniors Rule!" t-shirts where they belong - in that box in the garage with the word "Memories" scrawled across the lid.