Do Not Trust Appearances

Do Not Trust Appearances: My Visit To Deep Springs College

When You Look Beyond The Surface... Of anyone, whether it be a politician or professor, or even something like a prestigious college or business, one always finds a reason not to be intimidated.

Back In The Late 80’s, I Visited Deep Springs College In A Desert A Few Hours Outside Of Las Vegas.

It boasted the highest SAT scores in the nation

It had 25 students in the entire school.

Tuition was free.

Deep Springs is a two-year school. Students from there go on to transfer to great universities like Harvard, Yale, and Caltech.

Deep Springs Believes… That manual labor and political deliberation are important aspects of a complete education in liberal arts.

Tuition is free at Deep Springs.

The only requirement is that one must perform manual labor on a farm while attending the college.

Attending Deep Springs sounded like an incredible experience to me.

Before Visiting The School I Had To Write More Than 50 Pages Worth Of Essays. Though I did not understand the topic fully, the people at the school thought my ideas were groundbreaking. A couple of times I even encountered the guys there discussing the theory I had come up with.

As A High School Senior, I Was Very Excited To Visit Deep Springs College. I met a cowboy on the bus ride out to the college. “ Where are you headed?” He asked. I was wearing a blazer and khakis. I stuck out like a sore thumb. “ I know where you’re going.” He said jokingly. “You’re going to a rodeo college.”

When I Arrived, The Campus Was Very Dark. It was nothing but a few buildings in the middle of the desert. I was quickly led to a bed where I had no trouble falling asleep.

I Was Woken Up At 7:00 And Directed To The Showers. Shortly after, I was taken to the “work site” in a small pick up truck. My driver told me how much he enjoyed my essay on subliminal criminal training… Then he dropped me off in the middle of the road and told me to get digging. I got the impression that a large part of my admission would be based on my ability to partake in manual labor.

When It Was Finally Time For Lunch… I had walked in on an argument the other students were having. They were deciding whether or not they should allow a fellow student to go visit his girlfriend for a few days. If he left, he would be missing out on various chores. This would be unfair to the other students.

I Realized That I Would Not Ever Again Enjoy This Amount Of Oversight In My Life.

These students were closely micromanaging one another.

It seemed as though these guys had little say over their own lives

Most of the kids I ended up meeting seemed fairly withdrawn and shy.

On My Last Day At Deep Springs, I Had An Interview With The Admissions Committee. I was told to bring the essays I had written and to review them before I interviewed with the admissions committee. When I entered the interview room, I realized that the admissions committee turned out to be the school’s 25-man student body.

“ Have You Ever Ready Any Books By Carl Jung,” One Student Asked Me. I had used a significant quote from Jung in one of my essays. The quote served as a basis for my entire essay. “ No, I’ve never read a single thing by him,” I said. “ Then how can you possibly have a large quote from him in your essay, base an essay around his teachings and also lead us to believe that you know what you are talking about?”

This Was A Very Good Point. The rest of the interview seemed to carry on similarly. “ Did you like the food?,” one guy asked me. I did not realize it immediately, but he was being completely rude. All of the other students looked at each other, snickering and smiling.

My Final Thoughts About Deep Springs Were:

Because I did not have perfect SAT scores.

Because I was not extremely intellectual.

Because I was more of an athletic type, than an academic…

I did not fit in.

On The Drive Back To The Bus Station, I Noticed Something Strange About The Boy Who Drove Me. He had just taken a shower and was obviously wearing cologne. There was a brothel adjacent to the bus station and I reasoned that his shower and cologne usage were directly related. This seemed odd to me, because I had gotten the impression that the boys at Deep Springs were distinctly moral individuals.

I Asked Him What He Thought About The Brothel. He went into a speech describing how prostitution was evil and that it exploited women. When we arrived to the bus station, I had to convince him to go into the brothel with me so that we could enjoy a cup of coffee. He argued with me, stating that buying coffee there was supporting prostitution, but eventually came in with me.

When We Were Inside, A Young Woman Came Up To My Friend And Said… “ Bulldog!” She ran over to him and gave him a hug. “You look so cute with your new haircut.” Eventually they began talking as though I was not even there.

An Older Woman Served Us Coffees, Striking Up A Conversation With Us. “ You boys must be from Deep Springs,” she said. “I just got a letter from their headmaster saying that my girls had infected a bunch of their boys with sexually transmitted diseases. I have a mind to call my lawyer. It’s just not true. My girls are clean. They are inspected by a doctor.”

She Reasoned That One Of The Boys Probably Got A Disease From His Girlfriend… And later, shared it with the other boys at the school. “Who knows what goes on there,” she said. “The kids come here all the time, but they did not get their sex infections here.”

Over The Years, I Have Read About One Sex Scandal Or Another, Involving Seemingly Trustworthy Persons. There was Elliot Spitzer, Larry Craig, and former President Bill Clinton. I have learned that once you scratch beneath the surface, most people who represent great morals in our society, do not actually stand for what they say or represent that they do.

When I Graduated From The University Of Virginia, Jesse Jackson Gave The Commencement Speech. The speech was entitled “Can You Be Trusted?” He must have repeated the phrased “can you be trusted” more than a 100 times. About five years later, I read a huge story about Jackson and an extra-marital affair he had. Not even Jackson could be “trusted” (at least not by his wife).

I Have Met Many Men Who Appeared To Be Powerful Businessmen… That were sent to prison. I have seen one example after another of this.

Ultimately, Deep Springs Taught Me This: Do not be intimidated by, or trust appearances. No one is better than you. Everyone has secrets. Go forward in your life like you belong anywhere you want to be. You can do and be whomever you want to be. It is your life.