Where Does Strength Lie? Rebuttal to Alum’s Response

To the Editors:

As a current Oberlin College student I too, “felt great pride this season at the strong showing of the OC men’s hoops squad.” However, I have come to realize that such emotions in regards to the Athletic Department wane easily, which causes me to question the concept of pride. How does someone else take away one’s right to pride so easily? I believe Mike Cavey stated it best, “It might go on paper as 0-25, but we were there, we know we won those games, and no one can take that away from us.” His statement then raises the question, where does one’s strength lie?
Strength lies within one’s self and you cannot get stronger without being challenged.
Oberlin College is a unique institution that has sustained and preserved that quality overtime, why not rise to the occasion of a challenge? My response is not just about basketball, it’s about mentality. Simply because we have been accepted to a prestigious educational institution does not mean that students will not be subjected to struggles that have nothing to do with education. For those struggles are what makes us better prepared for the world.
If it is acceptable to state, “If spending $120,000 dollars for a first tier liberal arts degree does nothing else, it should certainly buy me the right to point out to my state school peers at every opportunity how much better than them I am” I un-apologetically disagree. You don’t buy rights with liberal arts degrees; you earn an education, you earn the rights to a higher paying job, you earn the right to teach what you have learned. If all you want to do with your undergraduate degree is point fingers at “state school peers” you missed the “point” behind the motto of one person changing the world. A reality I find unfortunate, especially at such a high cost.
As for the top 10 list, it lacks humor and is overtly distasteful in a way that perpetuates a crude and destructive manner of dealing with challenges to one’s “pride.” Not only does it lack humor, it lacks a purpose, for all of the statements made are ill relevant to the issue at hand.
Thus, I find it a poor tactic and suggest revisions.

–Nabilah Talib
College sophomore