Stanford is very concerned with numbers.

Each day as I pass the gates to main quad, I watch the centennial plaque appear and recede, marking the survival of this institution, adding a line to its ever-expanding resumé.

At 125 years old, Stanford has outlived the average American life expectancy. Yet this admittedly large number misses something. Although we see 125-year banners in various corners of campus and maybe glance at the huge numbers on the Oval (under which tour guides will point out are Wifi routers), to me, this place seems new.

When someone posed the question of whether Stanford students are becoming better or worse academics, I started thinking about how time passes in this place. Days are long, weeks are short, no one can ever believe it is Week 9. However, it seems students are always (and sometimes painfully) aware of how much time they have left here.

It rarely dawns on me that Stanford has existed in iterations different than the current one and will continue to evolve after I graduate. I was shocked by how little I know about the 122 years between its creation and my enrollment. The only image I have of 20th-century Stanford is the recently released movie on Phil Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, its reproduction of Jordan Hall’s tan linoleum floors glaring.

Stanford represents the pinnacle of achievement in the technological era. It is associated with computer science, binary, black screens with green characters, Silicon Valley startups. Everything is neatly compartmentalized. The engineering quad exists directly adjacent to the main quad but does not infiltrate it, and vice versa. The new perfect art building is next to the perfect art museum. The engineers are taking engineering classes and the English majors are taking English classes.

In response to the question, I admitted that I think more students used to study the humanities. What I really think is that it appears, from what the ones who lived through it tell me, that people used to be less afraid to make choices based on what they wanted to do. Now, insecurity about occupation, income and lifestyle reign over decision-making. The student body, however, has not chosen this path. We have not been conditioned to Stanford success stories – as Stanford students – nearly as much as we have been conditioned to be afraid of life after college – as adolescents of the 21st century.

Stanford students have accomplished incredible things, and the resumés of this institution and its constituents are sufficiently intimidating. Whether we move in the direction of better or worse, however, depends not only on achieving material success but on fostering equality and wellness in the midst of a culture that often encourages the opposite.

Contact Ariel Kaufman at akaykauf ‘at’ stanford.edu.