jakke asked: How do you feel about the straight-edge movement? Also, what would you say is the biggest problem with the way the university system works in North America?
BIG QUESTIONS.
I have no disrespect for people who keep edge, but the belief that everyone should abstain from alcohol and recreational drugs? Nah. You feel how you feel, whether or not you need chemicals to achieve it — and I know a lot of people, self included, whose lives have been improved by drugs with recreational uses like marijuana/amphetamines/benzos.
As to uni, I’ve gotten really disenchanted with the whole system. One big problem is that a disproportionate amount of it is preparation for future scholarship, when there just aren’t that many academic career slots to be filled. Then there’s the student debt issue — it almost feels like feudalism, seeing people in America take on five- or even six-digit debt just for the chance to get an above-sustenance job. I don’t know how I’d fix it, though. I’m just an undergrad and it seems so hopelessly broken.
