N.- a person who suspends judgment in the belief that certainty is impossible
Let's be frank, half of the junk we learn in college is useless. Ok half might even be an exaggeration, so why in the heck do we spend at least four years here? Why do we spend countless hours in front of books and computers and professors hopelessly memorizing useless information that we could just as easily look up if we ever had a pressing need to know it? Well, I have a theory... and since this is my blog.. I'm going to share it...
Let's go a generation back, our parents.. they could go to college or not and probably end up in roughly the same position in life. There were still plenty of careers that did not require a four-year degree unlike now, where it seems even fry cooks at McDonald's requires a high school degree and a "fry cook certification" at the very minimum. Go two generations back, our grandparents. College was absolutely unnecessary except for the few careers that truly needed additional training (doctors, lawyers, engineers etc.), so what changed for us? Well I cannot say with certainty where this began, but somewhere between our parents and us, someone started a rumor that you need four additional years of college to be successful. So more and more people went to college and then more and more people felt obligated to go, in order to get a job, stay competitive and all that. Fast forward to today, rumor has it, if you don't have a college degree the best job you can get is the guy that cleans out grease traps at restaurants and with all this biodiesel nonsense, even that requires a special certification. I'm kidding of course, but is it so wrong to think that maybe every job on the planet doesn't need a degree. Shouldn't people be able to be successful because they've spent years on the job learning a trade or industry, not just because they sat through four years of bogus classes that taught them nothing other than to commit a large amount of information to short term memory?
If you don't think college has a negative effect on society I invite you to go check out a high school, or even some middle schools, heck even an elementary school here and there. The pressure to ace every class and get a 30 on the ACT is astronomical. Parents are spending so much time, effort and cash to get their kid into a "good" school because that's apparently the secret to wealth, success, and happiness. I've got news for everyone. The old saying a pig dressed up as a girl is still a pig. Some kids just aren't "college material" and you know what? There's nothing wrong with that. They should be encouraged to succeed in whatever way they find most satisfying and not pushed into this ridiculous "college" ideal that really doesn't mean anything anymore. And those of us in college should really get over ourselves. A piece of paper declaring you fit to work in whatever field you majored in does not make you anything more than a person holding a piece of paper. It doesn't make you any better then the kid from high school who went into automotive work or the kid who's a struggling artist. It will afford you not the slightest bit more happiness.
So the real purpose of college? Truly? I think it's a way to hold off real life for a few more years. At 18, not many people are prepared or willing to jump into the real world. Some people do go to learn a trade, and thank God for that. We need our doctors, lawyers, and engineers just like anyone else. But I'd say the majority of us are, well, too scared to do much else then hide behind a pair of ivory towers.
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Since I am of your parents' generation, I can say that even back when I graduated from HS (30 years ago), college was a goal. My parents were both college grads, so that was their plan for me.
ReplyDeleteThe town I grew up in wasn't as competitive as the towns I've since lived it, but I think that's what's changed. Getting into a good college versus just getting into college. (Some of my best college teachers were at COD, the butt of many jokes.)
Yes, one can get a good job without an education, and one can admit that much of what's bantied about in college classrooms isn't really applicable to the work world.
I wasn't ready for college right out of HS, and I wound up working some really lousy jobs even though I'm a fairly intelligent person. I danced around the idea of a degree for a long time, and I didn't graduate until I was 33. I understood I did need a degree to do well in this life--career wise.
I also had to earn a master's whilst working full-time in order to make the big teaching bucks I'm making now.
We live in a society that does make it seem like it's the norm to have a degree, but that's really not the case. Even in the US of A, people with degrees are more rare than you think. Worldwide, globally, we're such an exception. More people are illiterate than have college educations.
Yeah, life gives you hoops like college and such. I suggest you jump through them and realize they are the means to your desired end (even if your end is still fuzzy). I know of two really successful people who still wish they had gone to college. The collegeless chip in their shoulder is deep--even though they are talented and make scads more money than I do.
At the same time, my good friend has a doctorate (she's a principal) and her husband works for Nicor, no college. They are both so happy in their jobs that their difference of education is not an issue.
Though I attended four schools for my undergrad and another for my master's, I never once saw an ivory tower. I guess I forgot to look!
Drat! Take a pic of MSOE's and put it on fb, would ya?
Your anger is very apparent, but I have to disagree. Perhaps your education is teaching you unimportant things, but every class I have been taking here has in some way related to my major or minor. Example - geology. What do I need to know about geology? Well, it comes incredibly useful with my minor, anthropology, and is useful to know and understand the stuff the covers ancient trash. Perhaps it is just your unique school/situation that isn't preparing you well, but I must give kudos to my school, something I never thought I would do!
ReplyDeleteAs for the whole needing to go to college, I agree, to a point. I would rather have a nation filled with people who actually understand certain ideas than ones only with a high school education. A plumber is still a voter, and if he doesn't understand economics, than he is an uniformed voter, the worst kind of person! But in order to succeed in a career, a piece of paper is useless!
I suppose my disagreement with both of you is that I don't think my true point was made clear. My fault, of course, for not more clearly articulating it. I love education, I love learning, and I love the idea of gaining knowledge. However, I feel that college has lost the quintessential aspect of learning...
ReplyDeleteThe things taught in colleges and school are not an education but a means to an education.
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Michael, you are, in my opinion, in the minority of college students. You went to school and majored in something you truly enjoyed with perhaps more focus spent on you enjoying your program, rather than benefiting post graduation. I would love to be in your shoes spending my hours of studying a subject I love, but alas, that is not the case..
Perhaps, that's my fault, but we won't get into the thoughts and feelings behind that... my main point is, for those of us in school to be teachers, businesspeople, journalists etc. etc. are we really getting what we should be out of our "education."
I look at my course descriptions and they all sound so intriguing and using that theory, they all perfectly apply to my life post-graduation. However, not once have i had a class that fulfilled its course description in any way. My concern is that the college experience has been "dumbed" down to the extent that we aren't really learning or being educated but rather just remembering enough stuff to pass the class. Where is the education on thinking, forming opinions and a worldview? Where's learning how to decide and problem solve? I'm not being taught to think, I'm being taught how to memorize. I'm not angry or pissed off about having to do work.. I enjoy working hard for my education, but I'm wondering.. where is the education?
I can honestly say that to fulfill the technical requirement of most jobs, any person with normal intelligence could learn the tasks necessary in a year. So what should the other 3 years of our higher-education experience be teaching us?
I don't disagree that we are a blessed nation in that we do have the opportunity for education that so many other nations lack, but my grief so to speak, is that we aren't taking full advantage of that. I see my peers barely passing their classes, partying all the time, and not learning anything. Then I see them graduating, getting a job, and making as much as me, if not more. I see kids like my brother's friends who dislike school because of the math, science, and English courses, but excelling at so many other things in their lives. Yet, their parents will make them to go college, force them through several years of an education system that is not meant for their kind of intelligence, and for what? Success as determined by so many; money, security, and the American Dream.
My post came, primarily, not from my own experience in post-secondary education, but rather watching my brother and his friends live with the stress that is now high school. It is so sad to me how amazingly talented some of them are at more non-traditional activities, but yet, how absolutely set their parents are on them going to school and getting a "real" job. No artists, carpenters, or philosophers in this bunch.. only future accountants, paper pushers, and salesman. None of them will end up fully content and happy, because they aren't living up their full potential. They are living up to the standard set by our society, which ignores the vallue of a true "education."
I really enjoyed reading this post. Very raw and truthful. And I love steamed up Kayla.
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