Soon I will become a university student, and this transition from school to university is something rather surreal. With universities accepting and rejecting me, it’s a little discouraging; so often, many people attribute their individual capabilities to their college results, but so much more often that is just not the case. This isn’t a topic that I think is of interest here, but it’s really interesting to consider given the context of academia and government in America in today’s landscape.

It’s rigid, fraudulent, misguided, unqualified, unprofessional, racist, sexist, and demeaning of anyone who doesn’t follow some biased political demand. The state of American education seems to be fragile, with public institutions soon falling to the mercy of state education requirements (often led by vocal people), and private institutions attempting to save face by bowing before the federal government on issues surrounding DEI, affirmative action, etc.. Where do I go? In a country that prides itself on freedom of speech and scientific prowess, practically every new story each day is about how “some person” was taken from their home after exhibiting free speech, or how “this many” scientists lost their jobs because their work mentioned newly “forbidden terms,” a list that includes words such as “gender,” “woman,” or even “Gulf of Mexico,” which is honestly kinda funny.

How do I fit into this new world? Many say that this will all disappear after 4 years, but they’re wrong. This country has already regressed by 20 years, and each day pushes that number higher. I’ll go to a university, but what then? I have no idea what will happen, and seeing as how fragile academia is in this country, it seems that the best thing to do is to leave America as soon as I graduate and pursue post-graduate studies abroad. I can see myself looking back on this website and thinking about how naïve I was to even think about things so far in the future, but maybe I’m right! I’ll never know until it happens.

It’s just a waiting game. It saddens me to think that the world I’ve known might be something entirely different within a decade.

(23 March, 2025)