Looking back over half a century on my college years, I remember absolutely nothing about the courses I took--130 vacuous credit hours.
I can't say it was my college's fault. I had no clear idea about what I wanted to do for a living. I changed majors twice and took courses almost at random. I took religion courses--enough for a minor. I took my university's first course in African American studies, and I got an A. I even took two classes in the college of agriculture: horse production and livestock feeding. I must have had some vague idea about going back to work on my father's farm.
But I understand now that my college years were not a complete waste. Why? Because I learned to manage my time and weave my way through the bureaucratic maze of academia, and those skills are not to be disparaged.
In my first semester in college, I took five courses: mandatory ROTC, biology, history, freshman English, and a class in swimming. And I had a part-time job as a student custodian.
I had to get up on time in the morning, get to classes held all over a sprawling campus, and study enough to pass the written exams. I had to figure out a way to amass enough of the courses I needed to graduate. I had to get my ROTC shirts pressed, and I had to learn to do my own laundry.
After getting my undergraduate degree, I gradually discovered that the world of work is often dull, colorless, and even meaningless. To make a living, I had to manage my time and learn the bureaucratic rules of the workplace. I can see now that I learned those skills by spending four mind-numbing years at a university.
But maybe colleges are not teaching time-management skills anymore. According to Inside Higher Ed, a recent survey found that about one-fifth of recent graduates say their college education did not prepare them for their first job. Less than one in four graduates said they learned people-management skills while in college, and only a third said they learned time-management skills.
These findings are scary. A college degree is becoming more and more expensive with each passing year, and most students now take out student loans to pay for their studies--loans many will never be able to pay back.
The very least we should expect from our universities is to teach students how to manage their time. A young person who graduates from college with burdensome student-loan debt and no time-management skills would have been better off working at McDonald's.
At least McDonald's teaches its employees to show up for work on time, smile, and not overcook the french fries.
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Do you want fries with that college degree? |