Student Who Applied To Collage Confused Why No Classes Use Paper Mache
Student LifeWTF November 25, 2024 The New England Classic
DEVLIN HALL — At Boston College, it’s common practice for students to be swindled into a college experience that does not align with their expectations. Tactful admissions marketing and boot-licking campus tour guides paint a pretty picture in the minds of perspective students, and a put a pretty penny in the piggybank of the college.
Some students were sold the imagination of Downtown Boston being just a hop and a skip away on the light-speed green line. Others were under the naive impression that they would be able to take the classes needed for their majors. Laughably, a couple students believed that they would have access to quality housing and student services. For one poor student, these misconceptions were far more catastrophic.
Clough Less (MCAS ‘25) is almost done with her college experience, and is wrestling with deep confusion and hefty buyer’s remorse.
“Over the last 4 years, I’ve been telling my friends and family that I go Boston Collage”, Less said “They think I’ve dedicated 4 years to intensive experiential learning via multimedia digital and canvas storytelling. My parents are so proud of me, what the hell am I gonna tell them now? They spent almost $350,000 and all I have to show them is a bunch of essays and bluebooks filled with gibberish and buzzwords.”
Less’s classes have mainly covered how white capitalism runs on the colonial roots of racialized and gendered exploitation in a global economy of mass production and consumption reliant on outsourcing of labor to developing nations under the guise of ethical consumption, the anatomy, physiology and biological functioning of the eye and inner ear, and the industrial revolution from a post-modern perspective.
As is the case for many students; time spent at Boston College filled with classes exploring the “the interdisciplinary foundation of knowledge” has quashed even the most elementary forms of creativity and personal expression.
“It’s just not what I imagined. My main goal for collage was to master my use of glitter glue and paper mache. Instead, I’ve been bogged down reading 500 pages a week of political theory, designing IRB approved neuroscience studies on the role of neural connections in brain recovery post traumatic injury, and formulating unique perspectives on World War II. I can’t even remember the last time I held a colored pencil, let alone a gluestick. If you asked me to color or scrapbook right now, I don’t think I could. It’s a modern day tragedy. I feel like college has killed the joy that my inner child found in authentic self expression, or whatever” Less explained.
At press time, Less was seen pleading with her professor to allow her to submit a collage on the school to prison pipeline in lieu of the final paper, and finding solace in the fact that a liberal arts degree is marginally more marketable than artistic talent in the search for a post-grad job. 
