放下學業，投奔自我
本期主題
作者：by Zarrin Darnell-Martin
Hey students， drop out of university now！ You can thank me later.
I am a university dropout， or at least I was for 10 years. Quitting was the best thing I ever did.
I’m 29 now， and after a lot of living（some successful， some not） I have returned to university as a mature student. And what I am seeing around me are a whole lot of students who need to drop out just like I did.
This might sound 1）radical， even 2）blasphemous， since parents everywhere are encouraging their teenagers to stay in school. But hear me out.
When I attended university for the first time， I was doing it because that was just what you did. I was accepted to Concordia University in communications.
I did great academically， but my mind and heart were on a different planet. I sulked through the hallways， talked through lectures and did assignments like a programmed robot. I cared more about what club I would be going to on Friday night than what was in my $100 textbook.
I did well， maintaining a 3.5 3）GPA， but emotionally I just didn’t care. I couldn’t—not because I was a bad teen， but because I just didn’t know any better. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t take university seriously， and I knew that I was wasting my time and my parents’ money.
So I spat out the institutional 4）Kool-Aid and dropped out after the first semester. My parents were shocked but， 5）to their credit， they let me be.
I floated around for a few months， worked at a bank for a year， then attended the National Theatre School of Canada in hopes of becoming an actor. After three years of rolling around on the floor and finding my inner child， I moved to Toronto to become a star.
Cue the real education： life.
I have had successes： a season at the Shaw Festival， commercials for 6）Swiss Chalet， some 7）walk-on TV gigs.
I’ve done a whole lot of waitressing and had a lot of doors slammed in my face.
I’ve had my heart seriously broken once and a half.
I’ve rented four apartments in Toronto， paid bills， budgeted， partied， broken down， travelled and tried all sorts of diets just to figure out in the end that a well-balanced meal and exercise program are the way to go.
I’ve endured the unspeakable pain of losing a parent and emotionally supporting another.