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From a young age, we are told that an education is the key to a well paying job. From that statement, we then correlate a well paying job to a happy life. And of course from that, we arrive at the conclusion that education is the key to a happy life. Mathematicians call it the “transitive property of equality”, which goes on to state that if A=B and B=C, then A=C.
We, as college students, strive throughout our collegiate careers to make something of ourselves – to graduate and then sell ourselves to corporate careers that will pay our mortgages, pay off student loan debts, and make car payments on time. We go to school to get degrees in things we care about in the hopes that we don’t one day end up stuck in a cubicle scrolling through lists of people to call and sell things to. At the baseline, we go to school so we don’t become telemarketers.
Enter Workaholics.
The show (which airs on Comedy Central Wednesday nights at 10pm) follows a trio of characters recently out of college who are stuck in that sort of “in-between” phase of life. The characters – Blake, Adam, and Anders (or “Ders”), respectively – were all roommates in college and after finishing their undergraduate studies, they all move on together in life as if attached at the waist. They live together, they work together, and when time provides, they all party together.
Debates have arisen with some arguing that the show portrays every college student’s greatest aspirations; to live, work, and party with your best friends after spending the last four years of your life with your nose buried in the books. Others have argued that the show depicts a recent graduate’s worst nightmare; to be stuck in a mundane job no closer to your dreams after having paid thousands of dollars for a degree that you will, apparently, never use.
So what is it about Workaholics that makes it so good?
It’s relatable. Whether you find yourself in either of the aforementioned categories – because we all know those people that party far too much and those who party far too little – the show takes a very real reality and sprinkles in some good old fashioned college humor. It’s a simple fact that many college students that take their collegiate career with any amount of seriousness would fear being stuck in the rut that Workaholics so represents, and without doubt the show equally represents the differences between those who take life too seriously and those who live it too freely.
Obviously there’s nothing wrong with a little partying every now and then. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with holding on to your best friends. There is, however, something to be said for moving on…for growing up a little (or a lot, for that matter). College is frequently touted as the time for finding yourself and having fun – and while finding yourself and having fun is all well and good, college is also the time to start maturing and making real steps into the real world.
Workaholics and the characters represented are the extremes of either end of that spectrum, and is – if anything – a very humorous cautionary tale for college students everywhere.