It has been about six years since I wrote an opinion piece for Technician. I had to take some time off from school and am just now coming back to finish what I started.

I mention this because I learned some things in my time away from academia that are relevant to what appears on the Viewpoints page. You can continue to read without fear that I am going to begin lecturing you on what you don’t appreciate or how things were back in my day.

What I have noticed is that the first time around I was unknowingly sheltered here. My opinions and I were safer here than they have been in the “outside world.” It is possible that some or most of you realize how free you are in this community, but if not then take a moment and just assume that what I am telling you is true.

I do not mean to say that the world away from college is not a place where opinions exist. It just appears to me that away from here they are harder things, stones that people throw or chip the edges off so that they may slash this one broken, dangerous idea towards whatever threatens them.

Embrace the freedom to change how you feel about the world. That is the freedom that I missed most about this place. Fundamentally, everyone at a school accepts that they do not know everything and that seems to put everyone in a place where they are willing to learn and be malleable. I cannot wait to start listening to the people around me again, eager to see how my worldview and my opinions are going to change again.

“Out there” every talking head and pundit on every major news channel seems to be saying first and foremost, “I know everything about whatever it is I’m talking about.” Every election cycle is another partisan set of politicians making it clear that there is nothing left for them to learn. If only these institutions were more like your time here. If only there were groups of people the country or even the world over more likely to incorporate new information into their opinions and thank whoever was willing to engage in friendly, honest debate.

I’m happy to be back at N.C. State and I am nearly giddy at the prospect of finding out what else I have to learn. There are so many smart, thoughtful people walking this campus and each one has a viewpoint.