By Alex Kawaguchi
I think it is common among my peers to have a love/hate relationship with our institution of education.
When someone I knew came to tour our beloved Evergreen, the first thing they asked me was, “What is the worst part about it?” and I laughed and said, “Where to start…” I could think of a million complaints against the school that I had heard over the years fighting for the top spot. Sure, the communications were bad, and the food and housing situation is awful, but what could possibly be the worst? I settled for a brief summary of some of the top contenders that extended into an hour-long tête-à-tête discussing the school’s myriad flaws. I noticed, however, somewhat counterintuitively, that the more we talked, the more excited my friend became. I would note some strange setup in how the school operated, which would lead back to why, which would emphasize again the weirdness inherent to the Evergreen way.
As we wound down, still laughing a little at the oddities of the school, I said, “Evergreen isn’t for everyone. A lot of people I know end up dropping or transferring after their first quarter, because they realize it isn’t for them. But we also have a lot of transfers in, who found out the hard way that a more standard school rubbed them wrong.” I shrugged. “You have to decide for yourself if it seems like a good fit. For me, the benefits outweigh the cons. And, if I’m being honest with myself, there is no place I’d rather be.”
They gave me a smile that said their application would soon be coming in for next Fall.
I have talked to many people unfamiliar with the school’s ways over the years, and though my review is glowing, it always comes with this caveat: Evergreen isn’t for everyone. Not that we are exclusive (our acceptance rates have been consistently above 90% for as far back as I cared to check the records when applying), but that we are, thoroughly and undeniably, strange.
By far one of my largest complaints about the school of late has been written about in this paper before by Rowan Utzinger in their open letter to Dr. Gordon from the January 2024 edition (an edition I would recommend reading in its entirety to anyone applying to our school). Aside from their excellent article, I’ve heard the same gripe echoed by basically everyone I know: Evergreen has been cringing away from its own inherent cringe in its advertising to incoming students. I have personally had classes with many freshers who were not given a good explanation of the intricacies of the school and were completely blindsided in their first days by Evergreen’s chaos, queerness, and general vibe. And, again, I have had friends and acquaintances who were immediately put off by it.
But I have also had conversations with people who wished they had known about the school when they started out, who crave the unique, bracing brand of sea salt and activism in the air, who want a chance to figure out new solutions to Evergreen’s intensely individual problems. Some of my best friends, and Evergreen’s most devoted students and participants, are those who came from far away, whose eyes nearly fell out of their heads when they heard of a school as weird as this one.
I think, as time goes on, Evergreen and her student body can become unaware of her own unique approach to education. Oh, sure, we never forget it, as we have to explain to our relatives for the 40th time that we do not, in fact, have majors, and yes, I can receive academic credits in dyeing yarn- but at least I have become jaded over time as to what this unusual approach offers students.
Yes, you may have to fight tooth and nail to start a theater club, but once it is going, you can decide to devote all your time and energy to it and get credit for it. Alright, there isn’t a great advising system, but if you find a teacher in a field you love, you can live on ILCs and Internships with them practically until you graduate. And yeah, we suck at bringing everyone together as a community, but when you find a few people you really love, those connections can be ten times stronger than any frat or sorority could offer.
If you are still at Evergreen after a couple of quarters, you likely know a lot of this, have come to terms with the pros and cons of our strange and lovely school all on your own, and don’t need me to reiterate for you. So instead, I direct my words to those who would seek to declaw this school, to see her robbed of everything that makes her painful and beautiful, to present her as meek, unassuming, and darling to all, instead of the fierce, volatile creature she is:
Evergreen is worth investing in because of its imperfections, not in spite of them. Her imperfections are worth investigating, because they are new and unfamiliar problems that only come from deviation of the norm that is so vital to make any progress. Because cringe though we are, awful and disastrous as our mistakes may be, we are one of the only places still standing in the US that can and does play and experiment with the form of higher education. It is not only desirable, but necessary that such places exist, because otherwise our education will stagnate and deteriorate, and can in no way prepare us for the ever-changing, ever-evolving world that we as students must eventually participate in.
The Evergreen experiment is perhaps most important because there will always be people like us. No matter what happens, no matter how standardized and cleanly and sterile we attempt to make ourselves, there will always be freaks and weirdos and barefoot runners. There will always be those who are unable or unwilling to conform, who will listen to a current student complain about the school in a fond way for hours and only get more excited to apply, who will get tired of order and careful structure and thirst for chaos and independence, even with its many pitfalls and learning curves. And they, like all the outcasts before them, will crave a haven, a community, a place.
Please let Evergreen be one of those few beautiful, fragile, places. Please protect and defend her, not by ignoring her shortcomings, but emphasizing the value and promise of such mistakes.
Evergreen can and should evolve, can and will change, but do not try to straighten her ragged edges, cut off new growth before it can even be identified, crop out the parts that aren’t pretty to look at.
Evergreen is ugly and tangled and wild and beautiful and ethereal and, most of all, necessary.
Please keep it that way.
