What I can't figure out is why anyone would go to college anymore. It seems, at least I was told, that if you go to college and do wel, you can graduate and will get a great job. "Everyone wants a college grad!". That's the way it was decades ago, and that's - I'm told - the way it was as I was finsihing up high school.
And then I foolishly followed my interests and majored in History and Anthropology, both without the intent of becoming a historian or anthropologist. I had been under the impression that liberal arts (and I did study a wide range of topics) wasn't so much about WHAT you studied, but that you LEARNED HOW to study and think and create. And to that end I did very much.
However, "if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the global market, we need more emphasis on engineering!". "More hard science!" "More math!" More than once (more than three times even) I have been told by instructors through my graduate education that wanton studies like the arts, the social sciences, and the humanities are draining precious resources from our education system. That the only thing that matters is how we keep up with the evolving technological market.
And yet high school graduates still flock to four-year institutions in droves.
And then I foolishly followed my interests and majored in History and Anthropology, both without the intent of becoming a historian or anthropologist. I had been under the impression that liberal arts (and I did study a wide range of topics) wasn't so much about WHAT you studied, but that you LEARNED HOW to study and think and create. And to that end I did very much.
However, "if the U.S. is to remain competitive in the global market, we need more emphasis on engineering!". "More hard science!" "More math!" More than once (more than three times even) I have been told by instructors through my graduate education that wanton studies like the arts, the social sciences, and the humanities are draining precious resources from our education system. That the only thing that matters is how we keep up with the evolving technological market.
And yet high school graduates still flock to four-year institutions in droves.
But what's the point? We can't package and sell intelligence and wisdom to our oversees markets, so why bother. It's not something we can buy, sell, or mass produce from an assembly line (as much as our policy makers would like to believe...but that's an entirely different post). So why continue an education, bury yourself in debt, and find very little reward at the other end?
Because people need to learn. People need to continue to grow and develop and THINK. I'm glad I studied history because I believe that those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. I'm glad I studied anthropology because I see the need, now perhaps more than ever, for people to respect and understand one another. To recognize and move away from ethnocentrism.
Would I be doing just fine without having gone to college? Undoubtedly. And I'd be debt free. Am I glad I did anyway? You bet. What I took away from the experience was the ability to LEARN. To THINK. To REASON. And those are the skills that will truly matter through the 21st Century.
Because people need to learn. People need to continue to grow and develop and THINK. I'm glad I studied history because I believe that those who ignore the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them. I'm glad I studied anthropology because I see the need, now perhaps more than ever, for people to respect and understand one another. To recognize and move away from ethnocentrism.
Would I be doing just fine without having gone to college? Undoubtedly. And I'd be debt free. Am I glad I did anyway? You bet. What I took away from the experience was the ability to LEARN. To THINK. To REASON. And those are the skills that will truly matter through the 21st Century.
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