O Passion, Where Art Thou?

Where has all the passion gone?

I sit down in lecture, in section, and all I see are blank faces, empty stares that I feel hardly even absorb what's being said by the demagogues in their presence. 

No questions. No comments. No suggestions. Just silence, and the rare chorus of laughter that keeps the atmosphere human. 

We are all free-riding. We are all sitting in our own seats, texting under the desks or working on Sudoku puzzles; we are all waiting for that courageous (or stupid) someone to break the silence and fool the demagogues into realizing that we, as a collective, are actually interested in goings-on.

There are methods to solve this free-riding. Coercion, namely, is what the demagogues resort to in order to force us into feeling involved, but why is it not working?

In Asian American Studies and Poli Sci, section participation counts for 15% of our final grades. Being the grade-conscious Berkeley students that we are, why aren't we exerting more effort into making these hour-long discussions into quality, thought-provoking brainstorms? Why are we just sitting on our asses and waiting for the GSIs to spoon-feed us with what we need to know?

This is not the Berkeley that I fell in love with. This is high school. Nobody wants to talk, and the few "smart people" are left to save everyone from the awkward silence or the judgmental feedbacks of the teacher.

Where is all this apathy coming from? Don't blame it on the GSI or the professor. Please. If you were really interested, you'd make time to immerse yourself in the subject matter, no matter how horrid your teacher may be. 

I spoke with someone a few days ago, and he just utterly bashed Berkeley to my face. He's a student, but he absolutely hates it here; he hates it so much that he'd rather go back to a JC than stay in this ghetto, hillside, ego-wonderland. I was understanding. I didn't really want to question his reasoning because I convinced myself that the university setting is not for everyone; maybe he was just one of those students who'd prosper more in a teaching- rather than research-oriented institution. 

But then he said to me, "I'm apathetic. I'm not even gonna vote. I just don't care." I paraphrase, but the point is clear. This man doesn't give a shit. 

Is this what's happening to Berkeley? Has there been an influx of apathetic people who simply don't give a shit?

I shudder to think...