What’s the Goal?

This year, total American student debt eclipsed one trillion dollars for the first time.  In honor of this historic event, I would like to ask a question: what is the goal of college?  Clearly we believe that a college education is worth the expense, but what exactly are we buying?

A survey by TIME revealed a surprising diversity of answers to these questions, and a disturbing disconnect between institutions and the general public.  American adults said students should attend college ‘to gain skills and knowledge for a career’ (40%), but college leaders ranked ‘to learn to think critically’ as the greatest incentive for a college education (36%).  Surely these are both valuable goals, but which should colleges focus on?

I understand the benefits of gaining a well-rounded general education (14% of college leaders), learning to think critically (36%), and becoming an informed citizen in a global society (19%).  Directly or indirectly, these skills impact every area of life (including work performance), but I am interested in seeing a cost-benefit analysis.  Are there less expensive ways to learn about current world events?  How much do students retain from their intro to psychology course?  Will any amount of classes help a student to think critically if they are only interested in the grade?

In the past, college was the route to information and education.  Today, we live in a digital age with unprecedented access to knowledge.  You can learn about the world for free through a world history course from Princeton University, and stay informed on current events with hundreds of global news sources available.  In today’s general education courses, students are often being forced to learn what they could learn for themselves – for free.  Perhaps we need courses showing students why to learn and how to learn, rather than what to learn.

What about critical thinking?  Employers and professors agree that it is an integral life skill, but is college truly teaching it?  According to TIME, employers are frustrated by the lack of graduates’ soft skills including critical thinking.  New York University sociologist Richard Arum conducted a study showing that 45% of college students “showed no significant” gains in critical thinking while enrolled.  Could a challenging business environment do more to promote critical thinking than listening to lectures at college?

Career Readiness

Flickr // Stefano Moscardini

Let’s move from these purposes of college to another goal: career readiness.  Only 21% of senior university administrators believe that you should go to college “to gain skills and knowledge for a career.”  If preparing you for a successful career isn’t the priority at your college, then you shouldn’t be surprised when it doesn’t happen: a Rutgers University study found that 50% of today’s graduates are unemployed or underemployed.

This brings us to a tough question: how do you get Point A (high school) to Point B (successful career)?  I confess that I still have more questions than answers, but college coupled with real-world experience is still a viable option, especially for technical fields such as medicine and engineering.  Students choosing soft skill majors such as business must adopt a career-conscious attitude before graduation day, because they will face tough competition – a college degree is not a job guarantee.

Competency-based education may soon be a respected alternative.  My brother earned his accredited degree at age twenty through CollegePlus in a competency-based model, and his work experience will put him far ahead of his peers by the time they graduate.  Such programs are rising in popularity, as seen by the formation of Western Governors University, a competency-based institution founded by 19 state governors.  This trend is also seen in President Obama’s support for new initiatives focusing on assignment completion rather than classroom time.

Here at Apprentice University, we’re providing another option by flipping the traditional, classroom-based model on its head.  We offer hands-on work experiences in business environments, and supplement these experiences with relevant online coursework.  Our goal is to give students the skills and knowledge for a successful career in technology, business, or media and public policy.  We’ll provide classes in world history, economics, public speaking, and more to expand students’ worldviews, but we won’t lose sight of our primary goal: launching successful careers.

Joel Moran