Am I Uppity?

I am wondering if I am suffering from a bit of snobbery. I think my mother believes I am. I commented that the people at the university seem to come in two types: students and college kids. Students are those who are their to learn and want to get the most benefit they can from their time there. Not only that, they fully intend to go on learning for their entire lives, outside and within the classroom. Then there are college kids, who are mostly there because it was expected of them and because they have the financial ability to go, usually because of their family. They go, they put in their four years, and then they leave for the ‘real world’ where their life can really begin. It’s just something they have to do on the way to something else.

It seems to me, most of these college kids can be found in the easier colleges, like the College of Business Administration, Arts & Sciences, or the Teachers College. I said that unless they were going for a professional degree, their classes probably weren’t too hard. Well, I guess I should have known better. After all, Mom did major in accounting (recently) and Dad in business administration (back when that actually meant something).

What I know is that I see these other kids in my electives who are majoring in business, or history, or teaching, and they just don’t seem to be working very hard. They go out a lot, spend time talking with friends and drinking, and complain over ‘cake’ assignments. Other students I know in architecture, law, engineering, etc. are studying endless days and nights. More than that, they actually discuss what they are working on, not just to complain about it, but because they love it and because it is interesting to them. They treat their education as a profession.

Am I looking down on these ‘college kids?’ Do I just misunderstand because I do not know enough about their majors? I have changed jobs and work with some other students now. I can’t help thinking of them as ‘kids.’ I have to stop myself from calling them ‘kids’ when I refer to them. They are only a few years younger than myself, yet their attitudes seem so vastly different. I don’t want to look down on them, but sometimes I disapprove. Am I judging too harshly? Am I so attached to my own way of behaving, of doing things, of treating things, that I look down on their way?

Am I being uppity?