P1: Option B

“All the world seemed turning to satire”1

This aerial view of Oxford [2] seems to embody the very essence of how many feel about the concept of the term “university”. I say this because I myself had, and still have in some ways, that selfsame view. Upon looking closely, it becomes painfully apparent that the entirety of Oxford seems shadowed, dark and gloomy, yet the lawn in the bottom left corner shows quite clearly that this photo was taken in full daylight! Imagine then, how this campus must look while shadowed by the constant cloud and rain of mainland England. This fact of appearance, in conjunction with the fact that Oxford is the quintessential example of the western “university”, leaves no wonder as to how it became a common view of the everyday man that these seats of higher learning were beyond reach, venerable and foreboding, objects of ponderous weight in the mind's eye. And not only the common man, but the very nobles, professors and gentlemen of those same institutions allowed, even promoted, this view to be held, so far as to adopt the view themselves. The entire situation fed upon itself, worsening generation upon generation, until universities seemed totally out of reach, in fact beyond the very existence of, the common man, creating “a class...who knew not the colleges, nor their works, nor their ways”.3 As this view was birthed in England, and we in turn as Americans are Her children, we were raised with that selfsame view, and it persists to this day.
In direct opposition to this view arose the vision of providing, for the public, an open seat of higher learning dedicated to the people, and supported by their government. As a group so very long cut off from the high-minded ideal of university teaching, the common man jumped at the opportunity to provide for himself and his posterity the priceless education so long denied to his kind. The depth of the importance of this issue shows in its being an issue in the birth of American revolution, and further in the birth of our own great state, as the Texas constitution specifically states “The Legislature shall as soon as practicable establish...a University of the first class”4. It is in this strange and contradictory dichotomy of the concept of the university that we now rest, viewing it as both a place open to us, and out of our reach, and from the conflict of these two views arises that same fear in us today as rested in Jude's heart during his childhood.
This then, is possibly the greatest similarity between the experience between Jude and his beloved ideal of the university, and my own experience with college. For we both spent our childhood preparing as best we could for a place which in turn found us utterly unprepared. Upon arriving at the University of Texas, I found myself standing before it's seal [5]. As much as that view of Oxford, I found this seal cold and daunting. I knew not the inscription circling the shield, nor the symbolism of all its many aspects, I knew only that they must indeed mean something. This served to strengthen my sense that not only the college itself, but the entire concept of a university was far beyond my pitiable mental scope. After the constant fear of rejection incipient in my very soul throughout the complicated and daunting process of applying for college, to find myself in a place I did not feel I understood or belonged seemed to give truth to all the terrors I had heretofore faced and overcome. In reading Hardy's tale, I could all too easily identify with Jude's fear, his lack of confidence, his despair, because I have felt, in fact still do feel, those very same things. Much like poor Father Time, the children of our generation have been raised to “see all [the world's] terrors before they are old enough to have staying power to resist them”6. From first grade until the summer before my acceptance into college, over twelve years, I was never without the knowledge of the price of failure in my attempts to achieve acceptance into a seat of higher learning. My parents, my teachers, my friends, all served to daily renew my fears of failure, and who would not be a basket case after twelves years spent thus? I distinctly remember knowing that I was too young to have such fear in me as I felt, to spend third grade terrified of living my life as a construction worker, with the entirety of my family disappointed and disgusted. It is in those moments that such inner reflections arise in us as they did in Father Time, to find ourselves wondering “it would be better to be out o' the world than in it, wouldn't it?”7. So in the sorrow of Jude and his family I find reflections of my own difficulties where college is concerned, but my life is not a Victorian novel, so all is not misery and loss for me.

In fact, quite the opposite when my mind is consumed by something the university is teaching me, rather than something about the university which I have been taught. All too completely I agree with Newman in his assertion that “knowledge is capable of being its own end”8, and I take great joy in losing myself in the material my classes provide me, in the knowledge I am bequeathed. And beyond that there is simply the atmosphere of the place, the sense of being here, for Newman also stresses that in a seat of multiple schools of learning “is created a pure and clear atmosphere of thought, which the student also breathes, though in his own case he only pursues a few sciences out of the multitude”9. There is such a simple joy in being here, in being part of the university, that I would give anything for Jude to have known it as well, if only for an instant. In fact, that is the greatest part of what is lacking in comparing Hardy's tale of college woes to my own experience, for Jude himself never gets to know what it is like to be a true part of a university, which is all on its own a life-changing thing.

In contrast to that major difference, which is in truth a single difference between myself and but one of many many Victorian portrayals of higher learning, is an all-encompassing similarity in the form of my being a student of the college of liberal arts. As we have discussed in class, in Victorian times to go to university was synonymous with receiving a liberal education, for that was what a university provided. Furthermore, the concept of a liberal education has not changed in all the many centuries since its birth, and continues to be much the same today, creating a direct connection between myself and my experiences and the experiences of men such as Newman and Hardy. It is because of this connection that I do not see Jude's vague aim to “better himself” at a university as vague at all, for that is exactly the goal at which a liberal education is aimed, an overall bettering of its student. While viewed from an outsider, my own statement may seem just as vague as Jude's own plans, I cannot agree, having followed the path of a liberal education with my own two feet. There is nothing vague about it, and while the liberal college does not provide instruction in any set of skills specific to a certain job, such as those provided in the colleges of engineering, business, and communication, it does provide skills that would be useful in any of those areas. The liberal arts take to heart Newman's insistence “that all branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject-matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself”10, it teaches us, to take the words from our good professor Bump's mouth, how to learn. Can there be any contention then, that this skill is applicable to any school of learning? Because of this, my college experience is quite similar to the vision of college that Hardy and Newman create, where one learns a little about many different things, and is enriched purely by the knowledge that surrounds him. This vision of liberal arts is a tradition born of its origins, as evinced in this illustration of the portrayal of the “septes artes liberales” or the seven liberal arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy [11 ]. While the latter four subjects are no longer within the purview of the basic liberal arts, the former three most indubitably are, and they are three human endeavors for which I hold the greatest respect and love imaginable, just the same as Jude in his early bright-eyed optimism, and just the same as Newman in his unending respect for knowledge itself.

Total Word Count: 1602
Quote word count: 121

1 Page 135, Hardy's Jude the Obscure
2 http://www.sgc.ox.ac.uk/Oxford%20Photos/Oxford_Aerial.jpg
3Page 299, Hardy's Jude the Obscure
4Constitution of Texas, 1876, Article VII, Section 10
5http://www.edb.utexas.edu/kdpdelta/UTSeal.gif
6Page 264, Hardy's Jude the Obscure
7Page 261, Hardy's Jude the Obscure
8Page 309, Newman's “The Idea of a University”, 1852, Discourse 5. Knowledge its Own End
9Page 308, Newman's “The Idea of a University”, 1852, Discourse 5. Knowledge its Own End
10Page 308, Newman's “The Idea of a University”, 1852, Discourse 5. Knowledge its Own End
11 http://www.rgle.org.uk/Septem-artes-liberales_Herrad-von-Landsberg_Hortus-delicarium_1180.jpg