Why I Left (NJ 32 / 87)

I'm often asked, when people find out that I'm Canadian, why I didn't just go to a Canadian University. When people find out that UWO is in London, they ask me why I didn't just attend Huron instead of leaving for New Jersey.

Sometimes I give them the obvious answers. Daddy works at UMDNJ. I wanted to expand my horizons by attending a foreign University. Attending University in the United States puts me in a better position for law school. Rutgers made a better financial offer than U of T.

That's all bullshit, though. The real reason is because of something those of us who attended Oakridge without the ability to penetrate its ruling class can profess.

Yes, I was on Student Parliament. Kind of. Yes, I was involved. A bit, and for the first part of the year. And yes, I was a good student. Sort of. But the real reason that I left is because Oakridge and London-West are the same thing: a cesspool of indignant behaviour and irritating dramatics by a group of over-privileged brats who don't understand the rarity of a stable middle class environment.

Many of the people who stay in London for University, if they're not careful, fall into a trap where they never leave. They cling to their high school friends, in some cases their high school spouses, and drink to their heart's desire whenever they can. They graduate and settle into a life in service of a corporation or the municipal government in a low-ranked or middle-ranked position, establish families, and watch their children do the same thing.

That's my nightmare scenario. When you settle into London, you're trapped there. The world becomes an obscure place outside of your reach, and the greatest pleasures you'll find in life are aligned to Richmond Street.

So I didn't leave because I had to leave. I left because, despite everything London has to offer, it has nothing of substance to offer a budding intellectual. It is one of the largest one-horse towns that has ever existed.

And Rutgers offered more money than U of T as well.