Since been a freshman I have tried to understand how far along education will take me — now I’m a senior and here are some of what I’ve learned in my American school (in no particular order of preference).
1. There is ‘academic’ and there is the ‘real’: I remember as a Computer Science major fresher, I asked my Java prof. what is advice was if I intend to proceed on grad school. He asked, “Do you want to be an academic?” promptly I answered “no”. Growing up through college I’ve understood that if you really, really want to learn, take the theory from school and match it with the real world.
2. Inflate my grades, please: at some point there was A, B, C, D, F. Now school feel the need (read: competition) to pass their student and boast to the ‘outside world’ of their top performance; now we have A+, A-, ….everything continually dumbed down.
Maybe it’s to satisfy students orgy with high grades or some their parents orgy with matching the high fees to the As and Bs — have learned, grades have become unnecessarily inflated.
3. I’m empty, please help: well, there is the inflated grades. And how much do we even learn in school? After finishing a semester I forget most of all that have been crammed into my head shortly after the exam is over. Does it even matter, after all, think of point #1, this is the academic world, the applicability of your knowledge isn’t that big here ( a lot of exceptions to this). Now I understand why there are more people doing something else totally divergent from what they devoted 4 years learning. Even I hold no exception to this, I’m waiting to see.
4. Friends, connection, and more: if there’s anything one should do in school, it’s to network, meet as many people as you can. I wish my orientator stressed this enough. I shake my head in pity when I have classmates who spend their entire existence in the library, and they walk through school with a truckload of information and another load of 0 social skills. I’m glad most employers now require this of graduates.
If you don’t like education, try ignorance, that’s the saying and I’m glad I’m educated. Not only from an institution but from everyone/thing around me.
The key is to not buy into the education illusion of being thought all that’s needed to survive — find a balance.
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You're pulling it together. I think a liberal arts education is to learn how to make a living doing what you love to do. It may take 5 years, 10 years, even more. But it's that quest for living a life that creates meaning.
Twitter: delomos
says:
Interesting perspective. Never thought of it this way. Thanks
Twitter: delomos
says:
Interesting perspective. Never thought of it this way. Thanks