Walking On Water Derrick Jensen Analysis

Today, many students like myself all over the America have walked down the hectic aisles of high school and have sat in some of the largest lecture halls in college. As kids, we were somewhat taught that going to school and getting an education would be the key to our success and thought that if we didn’t fulfill these expectations, we would end up homeless and live a terrible life. For so many years during my educational career this was the mentality that I believed in. Although this may be over exaggerated, I believe that this may hold some truth to the many college students all over the world. It is almost like we volunteer to go into debt and deal with all the stress that a college education brings us because we feel like it will get us …show more content…
It is a question that I had to ask myself many times. If one were to look on paper and see that a student has had over 10 years of education, it would be easy to assume that student knows exactly what they want to do. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. In Derrick Jensen’s Walking on Water, Jensen describes the holes in our education system and explains why it is that many students are not exploring their true potential because of the way our education system is operated. The way our education is set up is designed to fit the needs of corporate society which hinders students from taking a minute and asking tough questions like, “who am I?” Sadly, it is a question that many students are not able to figure out during their educational path. Jensen argues that our education system is set up for students to do exactly what those with authority say and that if they don’t, there will be consequences. Jensen describes school as a place almost as where close-ended questions with fixed answers are set to be the norm, while open-ended questions are looked down upon. Jensen states, “I learned to mimic the opinions of teachers, and on command to vomit facts and interpretations of those facts gleaned from textbook, whether I agreed with the facts or interpretations or not.” This slave like system Jensen describes is exactly why we cannot ask ourselves the …show more content…
In David Foster's “This is Water,” Wallace emphasizes the challenge of escaping from our default mental setting that we seem to drift into so often, and into more of an open-minded state of mind. It is easy to drift into having a pessimistic self-centered approach to the world because we feel the world owes us something. Wallace state's, “everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the centre of the universe; the realest, most vivid and important person in existence.” I can guarantee that everyone, including myself has thought the same way, but what is the benefit of having such a selfish attitude? This type of attitude only brings negativity into our lives and leads us to grow angry with the world, leading oneself to not truly ever experience a good life. If we think like this, we are unconsciously living life without even knowing it. What Wallace really wants students to learn from an education is the ability to control one's own mind in a way that expels the so-called default setting and lets one to experience life consciously. Wallace states, “It is about the real value of a real education, which has almost nothing to do with knowledge, and everything to do with simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential...” By choosing to