Students Won't Listen To The Institutions They're Rebelling Against

Originally written on 2019/03/12 in Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada for Waterloo Region Record Op-Ed Section

An excerpt from Self-Reflection: Many Worlds Within The Self, Many Selves In The World (2026) by Jonathan M.W. Klassen

Jonathan’s Musical Soundtrack Recommendation for this Reflection: My Soul Cries Out (Canticle of the Turning), Mennonite Hymnals

“Seeing the strange in the familiar” is the first part of sociologist Peter Berger’s two-part definition of the “sociological perspective” that was introduced to us in an introductory sociology course I took at the University of Waterloo.

Whenever I think of this phrase — probably because I wrote a paper on this topic — the first thing that comes to my mind is the St. Patrick’s Day “celebrations” on Ezra Avenue in Waterloo. This annual tradition may seem so routine, so familiar to some, but for me there are many strange things about it.

For one thing, I think it’s strange that we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at all. St. Patrick was an Irish Christian missionary and bishop in the fifth-century who famously used a three-leaf clover to explain the Christian concept of the Trinity and became the patron saint of Ireland. Although he may have been very influential, I’ve always wondered why exactly do we decide to celebrate him.

And how does the way we celebrate him relate at all to who he was or what he taught? Why do we use this as an opportunity to drink beer, wear green clothes and do stupid things that break laws and hinder the whole emergency response system in Waterloo Region? Why do students of all people celebrate this? Why does this kind of celebration take place in Waterloo of all places?