Letter to the Editor

College career about more than increasing finances

Why do we go to college? A question everyone should answer for himself or herself before they even get there. And in Monday's (The Daily) Collegian Rick Smith made a dogmatic argument in defense of Corporate America based on this answer: "the purpose of college is to work one's way into the marketplace" in order to make money.

Smith was responding to Matt McLaughlin's Friday opinion column debasing big business for unethical labor practices and environmental destruction, but Smith missed the point. He says that it is hypocritical to criticize capitalistic corporations because we're basically in college to get hired by them so "those that decry big business don't even belong here at Penn State." He asks, "if the pursuit of money is evil, why even go to college?" There is plenty wrong with that.

First, McLaughlin never stated that money or capitalism is evil, just that the tactics some corporations use to maximize their profit violates the very ethics our "competitive country" created. And in order to adhere to those ethics we should not endorse such companies. Is it hypocritical to expect American businesses to abide by our labor standards or to avoid destruction of our ecosystems? Of course not. The "true value of capitalism" that Smith holds dear is not being scrutinized. What McLaughlin questions is the practice of some companies to put making exorbitant amounts of money above human well-being. That attitude is deplorable and by no means an inherent part of capitalism. And this brings me to my opening question, because according to Smith, with this opinion, I don't belong at Penn State.

Well money is not everyone's ultimate goal, nor should it be, and it's very wrong to assume so. Some people have gone to college for the education itself. Some people go because they want to be better thinkers, understand the world and it's people and it's history, to experience culture through study abroad programs or school in a big city. And what about artists? The film or literary arts, for example, are extremely competitive fields and good artists care more about their art than their rewards. I put teachers in this category as well. What teacher goes to college for the money? And are we too cynical to believe that there are actually doctors who care about helping people, or that there are lawyers who care about finding justice instead of only their salary?

My point is that by identifying the unethical practices of big business I am in no way undermining my reasons for going to college, or even capitalism. And to say that this opinion is hypocritical, and college is for people who want money is only a testament to Smith's dogmatism. It is strange that he did not anticipate this viewpoint, being he is the treasurer of the Objectivist Club.

Dave Papa
sophomore-speech communications