When we walk into a classroom, we see students who come in and place their bags on the seat next to them as they sit down. Others who follow in don’t bother to ask and just move on to take another seat, putting their belongings on the seat next to them as well. While such behavior forms a causal pattern, foreign professors point out that this is very unusual and strongly individualistic.
This pattern also goes for eating lunch too: not only around cafeterias but also at stores in front of Ewha have many seats for one. Surprisingly, there never seems to be enough to accommodate these people who wish to come and quickly finish a meal.
Nowadays such “fast food” is taking over campus such as rice balls, sandwiches, burritos, and for some, even bubble tea. Sadly, this proves the tendency we have on campus.
In fact, it is so much comfortable to eat alone; it’s so difficult to arrange a date, first of all, especially for college students when team projects, assignments, club activities and other schedules have already made their schedulers bulky enough. Plus, when you’re out with another person, you don’t normally end by just having a meal together; you spend more time having a conversation afterwards. Naturally, people get to spend more money and time compared to when they eat alone.
So in a sense, those sitting on the Ewha Campus Complex sofas munching on triangular kimbap or those eating ramen in front of a laptop in an empty classroom, it is all very understandable. The social atmosphere that cherishes individualism and hyper-competitiveness may lead to one to prioritize self-management and believe it is the key to success. While these people who prefer to be alone may be successfully practicing self-management, they are missing out on the importance of obtaining skills and strategies that are associated with fostering and building relationships. After all, career and life is all about living with people, not against them; it’s all about managing relationships.
In the book “Never Eat Alone,” Keith Ferrazzi writes that poverty was not only a lack of financial resources; it was isolation from the kind of people that could help you make more of yourself.
Before going into the “real world” students need to learn to general networking techniques, how to toss a “fast and meaningful” slice of intimacy that reveals his or her uniqueness to interlocutors and quickly forge the kind of emotional connection through which trust, and business, can soon follow. Colleges nowadays seem to stand solely for the purpose of building academic knowledge and searching jobs, almost like an academy, when obtaining networking techniques and learning to cooperate with others can be equally crucial in terms of education.
It is about acknowledging the significance of mingling with people and building social skills. Self management is a base. Once people step out of classrooms, they’ll never find themselves to be alone unless they are jobless.
Learning to be with people and value their presence is crucial; especially in college. It is only too natural that we should be doing this, but nowadays college students do not seem to notice the obviousness. Spending time alone is not bad, but should be to a certain extent; do not let this overtake your entire lifestyle.
저작권자 © Ewha Voice 무단전재 및 재배포 금지