Higher Education?
I think college has absolutely nothing to do with education, except in fields like medicine and law, which have always been very knowledge-intensive. Ok, I'll allow that you learn some useful things in college, and certainly a lot of interesting things. But really I think most of higher education is pointless.
For most people, college ends up being about two things: social networking and a document saying you went. I believe those two things are the underlying reasons universities even exist. The latter is obvious, you need the diploma saying you went. It's a stated goal and well understood. But the fact that the knowledge behind that piece of paper is irrelevant isn't quite as orthodox. Even with sayings like "C's get degrees" people still seem to think they're learning necessary information. You aren't. Almost no employer looks at your grades, to see how well you did in school. Why? Because they generally know it's irrelevant, book knowledge doesn't translate to the working world for the most part. You learn what you need to know by doing it, not by reading about it.
The social networking part is less overtly stated, though I bet most people intuitively understand it. It's certainly clear in the business degrees, but I bet it's true of most disciplines. In the world, it's always about who you know, not what you know. They say you'll probably meet your future spouse in college, a lot of your lifelong friends, and obviously you'll get job offers there, at least you'll get your start that way. But as a place of actual learning, college isn't important. I learn far more on my own than I ever do in college, and about things I actually care about. Maybe most people don't read as much as I do, but they can if they want to. No one is held back from exploring their interests, for free, on the internet or at the library. You don't have to pay incredible amounts of money to learn, and you don't have to waste time, money, and stress struggling to pass classes in subjects you don't care about but which the university gods have decreed are requirements for graduation.
This is why I think we need to go back to a sort of apprenticeship method of education. Fuck the book learning, or at least make it take a backseat to hands-on learning. It should start right out of elementary school, when students would normally go to high school. Why wait until people are already adults to start training them for their life? This way, you could study what you are interested in and enjoy, and devote yourself to it, rather than waste 4 years in high school just to qualify for wasting 4-6 years in college, just so you can start working in your mid-twenties and finally learn how to do what you want to do.
Save the universities for doctors, lawyers, and such, like it was a century or two ago. Free up our intellectual energies from the pointless requirements. Why should an engineering student have to take a phys-ed class in college? Why should someone who wants to study business have to take biology? What in the world is an english major doing taking calculus? There's the argument that these classes "round out an education" but I think that's bullshit. It's a waste of time and money for the student who just wants to be able to work at their chosen interest. I think the whole thing is a racket. Tuitions are sky high, required books cost hundreds of dollars, and the requirements just keep getting more ridiculous, forcing more pointless information into the heads of students, only to be forgotten after the next test.
I don't even know why the hell I went back. I have a feeling it was more for everyone else than for myself.
For most people, college ends up being about two things: social networking and a document saying you went. I believe those two things are the underlying reasons universities even exist. The latter is obvious, you need the diploma saying you went. It's a stated goal and well understood. But the fact that the knowledge behind that piece of paper is irrelevant isn't quite as orthodox. Even with sayings like "C's get degrees" people still seem to think they're learning necessary information. You aren't. Almost no employer looks at your grades, to see how well you did in school. Why? Because they generally know it's irrelevant, book knowledge doesn't translate to the working world for the most part. You learn what you need to know by doing it, not by reading about it.
The social networking part is less overtly stated, though I bet most people intuitively understand it. It's certainly clear in the business degrees, but I bet it's true of most disciplines. In the world, it's always about who you know, not what you know. They say you'll probably meet your future spouse in college, a lot of your lifelong friends, and obviously you'll get job offers there, at least you'll get your start that way. But as a place of actual learning, college isn't important. I learn far more on my own than I ever do in college, and about things I actually care about. Maybe most people don't read as much as I do, but they can if they want to. No one is held back from exploring their interests, for free, on the internet or at the library. You don't have to pay incredible amounts of money to learn, and you don't have to waste time, money, and stress struggling to pass classes in subjects you don't care about but which the university gods have decreed are requirements for graduation.
This is why I think we need to go back to a sort of apprenticeship method of education. Fuck the book learning, or at least make it take a backseat to hands-on learning. It should start right out of elementary school, when students would normally go to high school. Why wait until people are already adults to start training them for their life? This way, you could study what you are interested in and enjoy, and devote yourself to it, rather than waste 4 years in high school just to qualify for wasting 4-6 years in college, just so you can start working in your mid-twenties and finally learn how to do what you want to do.
Save the universities for doctors, lawyers, and such, like it was a century or two ago. Free up our intellectual energies from the pointless requirements. Why should an engineering student have to take a phys-ed class in college? Why should someone who wants to study business have to take biology? What in the world is an english major doing taking calculus? There's the argument that these classes "round out an education" but I think that's bullshit. It's a waste of time and money for the student who just wants to be able to work at their chosen interest. I think the whole thing is a racket. Tuitions are sky high, required books cost hundreds of dollars, and the requirements just keep getting more ridiculous, forcing more pointless information into the heads of students, only to be forgotten after the next test.
I don't even know why the hell I went back. I have a feeling it was more for everyone else than for myself.
posted by Brandon at 4:03 PM
1 Comments:
first and foremost, thank you for updating. i bow down to you for this one. i agree. fuck college. i go because "i'm supposed to" not because i want to. honestly i want to go into business, and ive learned more on my own and with my own experiences than i have going to college. sometimes i feel like im wasting my money.
Post a Comment
<< Home