Emerging from the Dungeon

By Anonymous / Spring 2021

Have you ever had the chance to visit the Computer Science and Engineering lab at UCSD? I’m hesitant to share my story considering I only have two years worth of experience. Once you pass the Geisel library and move forward to Warren college, you can sense the different vibes emitting from the students' eyes. There is a sense of seriousness that comes from their minds that is full of pressure and instead of a genuine smile beaming at you, it is their frustration and anger. Keep walking, you are almost there. Go down the stairs one by one. Welcome to the “dungeon” as the UCSD students give an alternative name to the CSE lab. By walking in the dungeon, you can smell the stress, anxiety, and pressure on the student's shoulders. They are either shaking their feet while sitting, pulling their hair out, or biting their nails. Behind one of the computers, you see a girl crying because she feels that she is not enough and she does not belong here. Throughout her whole life, she was the top student and now that she got accepted to one of the top schools in the state, University of California San Diego, she cannot compete with other students of similar academic backgrounds. She tried different strategies in order to be successful in these classes by asking her classmates questions about the concepts; however, she continuously received wrong information that set her back. She is worried about dropping out of the school and being a huge disappointment to her parents, friends, and relatives. She is doubting her decision of studying in a major that provides security in her future, Computer Science, so she can have a career that would fulfil’s societies definition of happiness and success.

On the other side of the campus, when you walk towards the social science, humanities, and visual arts buildings, you can see butterflies flying in the student’s eyes. The amount of pressure is less than a half because they have not graduated yet. Students are satisfied with their decision of following their passion. They are unaware of how society will treat them after they graduate from the University because there are ignorant people who think Arts and Humanities majors will not find jobs in their futures. If you walk forward, you see a soon to be PhD graduate coming out of the philosophy building. The pressure of not being able to find a full time job as a philosopher shows on his shoulders which weigh heavy of self doubt and whose eyes are crying out for help. Through the darkness of his eyes, it is evident that he had been searching and searching for a job in order to pay off his student debts as soon as possible. The philosopher blames himself for following his childhood dream of becoming a philosophy professor whose occupation has little to no value in a market driven society. He feels the judgement from his loved ones and friends when they ask about the status of his job search which adds more strain and stress to his mental health.

Angela Davis had once questioned "What good is a university if it doesn't bring people happiness?" Society has developed the idea of happiness to be attached to a market profit driven system. The definition of market profit driven system is “ the price an asset would fetch in the marketplace, or the value that the investment community gives to a particular equity or business.” In other words, a market profit driven system is where a consumer watches people with a given career having many desirable materialistic things and their appearance of happiness while linking it to their personal education decisions for their future. This could be an anthropology major deciding to become a doctor due to seeing a happy physician with a Rolls Royce while she has a studio apartment and drives a Toyota. Unfortunately, most students from the University of California schools fall victim to this money-driven system. The girl crying behind computer screens is a very normal experience in the UC system for most STEM students. The worrisome experience of the PhD student represents those who are concerned about if their major will provide them security in the future rather than if it would fulfil their happiness. Happiness can have different interpretations depending on an individual; however, the holistic approach is that “In all cultures, people would prefer to feel contentment or joy rather than anger or depression.” We as a society live in a contradiction. The UC system is full of students who fall victim to the societal mindset that defines happiness alongside a market profit driven system. The mindset that is deeply rooted in our minds from childhood by our parents' previous generations is what is destroying the minds of our current generation. The underlying problems that society fails to change is to reevaluate the education system and to appropriately define happiness without the attachment to monetary value.

In order to help society diminish the idea that money and selfish benefits is what defines happiness and success, the history behind this ideology must be addressed. We are living in a market profit society where the foundation of our system is about making money, thus having the market to be a template for all social relations. Moreover, if there are relations that do not have any profit, then it does not have any significance to the market at all. This ideology is called neoliberalism where “human beings [are] profit-and-loss calculators (and not bearers of grace, or of inalienable rights and duties)...It was a way of reordering social reality, and of rethinking our status as individuals.” (Metclaf) The foundation of neoliberalism premises on objectifying humans as products into the system where business will question “Who can I hire so that this company to make the most money?” rather than “How does this person’s values align with the company in order for the business to be optimized?” University of Berkeley, Professor Wendy Brown addresses the issues of neoliberalism in which this ideology has developed the belief that human beings are attached to economic value thus all forms of human activity are correlated to business. It's as if humans are robots performing tasks in order to make money and to forget about human demeanor and value of life.

With this toxic mentality, college students and younger generations have been fed this idea that once you graduate with a higher education, that is going to secure your future of making more money which will ultimately make you gain happiness. According to Panos Mourdoukoutas from Forbes, “A college degree is [an] official recognition of the formal education accumulated in college, which has a dual value: an intrinsic value, enhancing the student’s personality; and a market value, increasing the student's chances of getting a “rewarding” job.” Society has defined rewarding jobs to be affiliated with money instead of happiness; therefore, this makes college students filled with pressure to seek a higher education.

One of the major flaws within the education system is that it is tied to the market value system. There are certain majors that are more impacted than others such as Computer Science, Biology, and Business. Referring back to Mourdoukoutas, he states that “Not all college degrees are valued equally in the marketplace.” The reason as to why there is inequality is because majors within the Arts and Humanities do not have a greater market value return in comparison to people who are in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics field. Within the Arts and Humanities major, there are barely enough opportunities to receive a job due to the stigma of not being practical in employment. With the uptrend of advancing technology, STEM majors are more praised for as it provides efficiency to the companies who are more science and engineering based.

Another flaw is that colleges and universities are naive to the immense pressure that is placed upon students who struggle financially and mentally. The principles of education have evolved as students are not spending thousands of dollars to learn but rather paying institutions to get a letter grade that defines their worth and future salary. The purpose of receiving an education is to gain the knowledge that is required to keep the career pushing forward as it has done before. Since the start of online learning, student’s have had to not only take on the stress of being isolated in a global shutdown, but to also teach themselves the material while adapting it to their learning styles. Andrew Belasco with College Transitions talks of Berkeley having, “29 non-residents...50% California residents, and 55% international students” it is not an easy task to get all of the students back home to their families. During the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the constant exposure of hearing about deaths and new variants caused many people to develop a fear of the outside world as well as force them into self-isolation and dangerous cleaning habits. The constant stimulus of fear, anxiety, and stress bad news given to them from a television screen at all hours of the day would make anyone have trouble keeping up with studies while juggling mental health. Prior to the global pandemic, students were already subjected to mountainous amounts of stress that would go onto negatively affect their mental health with a specific struggle with suicide. According to Katherine Seligman, “... 10 percent [of Berkeley students] each year will have suicidal thoughts... That’s 3,500 students here.” Of those 3,500 students, there is an individual story and struggle attached to them with lack of mental health at the center. Just like the girl crying in the dungeon who has pressures from not only being from a top school but also being a disappointment to her parents, the girl defines her success and happiness to a standard in that society. This standard idolizes high grades from a prestigious university, a major leading to a career with a large salary, and glamorizes a lifestyle that is seen in movies and social media. Just how students will do anything to earn a good grade, society will do anything to have an absurdly unattainable lifestyle of big bank accounts associated because that is when they are finally happy.

As society attached happiness to the amount of wealth accumulated, humans have been working as if they were robots doing everything per instruction. We start valuing wealth more than our well being because of the dream of pursuing happiness. During the chase of money, the damage done to the young people’s mental health has caused a dramatic decrease in humanity and people losing the values of empathy and compassion since everyone is out for themselves. Once our priorities shift from being a human being to a machine, passion is the first characteristic that will be replaced by depression and anger. The system that produces humans as robots is what creates a dysfunctional society. We are easily blinded by the belief system that money is attached to happiness which consequently yields to ignoring the sufferings of people. When someone cannot fit in this system, society points at them as a failure who could not achieve success and happiness; moreover, this system is clearly imbalanced. People’s well being is as important as the country’s economic well being. In order to sustain a stable economy, there needs to be employers and employees who are just as stable and happy. A balanced society recognizes a human being for who he or she is, rather than treating them like a machine to be commanded to do actions for money. Instead of being treated inhumanely, we can help create a safe environment that meets everyone’s basic needs.

To create a safe environment that meets everyone’s basic needs we need to have potential jobs for all the STEM and non-STEM majors. Our society is full of people who are critical and logical thinkers, innovators, and analyzers; yet, we are lacking creativity and spontaneity. Although we are a technology based generation that depends on these characteristics, we need to have an Arts and Humanities dimension to balance life. In order to have a more balanced society, we can combine Arts and Humanities within the STEM majors and make more creative and problem solving careers for people who invest their youth and money to study their passion. Art and humanities are what is shaping the history for our future generations; without having them in the society, future generations will not be able to be aware of different methods of thinking. Dr.Loretta Jackson Hayes had written an articles that discussed combining liberal arts with the STEM field so that “To innovat[ion] is to introduce change.While STEM workers can certainly drive innovation through science alone, imagine how much more innovative students and employees could be if the pool of knowledge from which they draw is wider and deeper. That occurs as the result of a liberal arts education.” The premise of her article is acknowledging the benefits when having a liberal arts background or knowledge so that it can be applied to growing technological society.

It is universally accepted that happiness derives from the socio-economic level and educational history that is obtained by an individual. Society evaluates someone’s success and happiness based on these factors. We believe that the amount of wealth is equivalent to happiness which brings joy in our life. This mindset is deeply rooted in our minds from childhood by our parents previous generations as this was the fundamental way of thinking for most. The thinking was cultivated to believe that having a good job and high salary can make this dream come true. In addition, it is believed that the proper tool to achieve happiness is pursuing higher education such as receiving a Bachelor’s, Masters or Doctorate degree. Most people are choosing specific majors that can potentially have more opportunities in the future such as Biology, Computer Science, business, etc. These majors are chosen due to the ability to find a job right after graduating from a university. The education system is based upon the market value driven system where it crushes the students in different ways by leading them down a path where they equate happiness to material success. Therefore, if they don’t attain that, or they don’t play that competitive individualistic game, they see themselves as failures or not very valuable for society.

Everyone should have an open mindset in order to understand and appreciate different subjects that are within the STEM field and Arts and Humanities. The education system should expand people's awareness by exposing them to the important parts of subject matter; therefore, this diminishes any ignorance and negative connotation. In addition, schools should not focus on the letter of a grade but rather how students can apply what they are learning into real life settings. This strategy alleviates any pressures from what is to come from students in their future because there is a new fundamental understanding and gratitude of every subject. In simple words, arts and humanities have the same importance as any STEM major. By balancing the majors, the human side of morality, creativity, and room for opinion comes into the same room as the critical, logical, and analytical thinkers. Once we have a balanced society, there will be no space for judgement and less pressure on everyone’s shoulders. This dynamic could possibly lead to everyone having jobs where there is little to no competition. On top of finding appreciation for different subjects, happiness should be addressed in the process of learning. For instance, people should find pleasure in life through learning and experiences rather than money. While money provides financial stability, it should not equate or be a factor into happiness. Happiness is an individualistic experience where society should not have say what factors should be a part of it.

Works Cited

Chen, James. “Market Value.” Investopedia, Investopedia, 24 May 2021.

Diener, ―Dr. Ed, et al. “Why Governments Should Care More about Happiness.” Greater Good.

Jackson-Hayes, Loretta. “We Don't Need More STEM Majors. We Need More STEM Majors with Liberal Arts Training.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Mar. 2019.

Metcalf, Stephen. “Neoliberalism: the Idea That Swallowed the World.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 18 Aug. 2017.

Mourdoukoutas, Panos. “3 Things That Determine The Market Value Of A College Degree.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 13 May 2013.

Pifer, Emily. How STEM Is Shaping Modern Society, 7 Feb. 2018.

Seligman, Katherine. “Stressed-Out Students: UC Campuses Strain to Meet Soaring Need for Counseling.” Cal Alumni Association, 30 Dec. 2015.

Staff, Defne Karabatur |, and Defne Karabatur. “How Many Students on Campus Are Struggling with Mental Health.” The Daily Californian, 23 Nov. 2020.