The First Thing Every College Should Do For Its Students
For some time now I’ve argued that colleges and universities have dropped the ball on one of the most important preparatory steps in attending college: Defining what a college education is all about.
Students often go to college without a clear conception of what they’re supposed to be getting from the experience. They go because college has become the “thing you do” after high school. Like their secondary education, they never really stop to think about why they’re going, or what the benefits are. More importantly, many students see college as simply an extension of their secondary education. That is, learning without an express purpose other than “I’ll need to know this someday.”
The costs of a college education continue to rise and students, rightfully, should be informed of their options for an education, for educational financing, and even for their careers. Yet, most colleges don’t do anything to provide the incoming student with an overview of what a college education can do for them and what they should expect from their experience. No one clearly differentiates the college experience from earlier educational experiences, so the student never gets an opportunity to make a fully informed decision. Consequently, they flounder, become frustrated and may even drop out. I believe that one of the most important things that a college can do for its incoming students is to provide them with clear guidance on what a college education entails and what it provides (or doesn’t provide) in preparing them for their future. Call it a ‘truth-in-education’ approach not unlike the truth-in-lending that you get when taking out a loan. It should be the first thing the student hears. And, perhaps, should even be what they hear _before_ they enroll. Students should be helped to understand that college provides two types of education: technical and human. Now, I’ll probably go into these in more detail in later posts, but for now I’ll define them thusly: * Technical education is education that is designed to provide the student with specific skills and knowledge that meets the requirements of specific career fields. Think nursing, engineering, IT, business, and the like. * “Human” education or, if you prefer, “classic” education is designed to develop the intellectual capacity of the student. I prefer the use of “human” simply because the focus is not on developing a specific skillset, but on developing the student’s human potential. Despite what many may say, one is not better than the other. They are simply different. And which route the student takes is a reflection of her own values, personality, and interests. Perhaps the biggest difference is that the student who chooses a “technical” route is choosing a clear, but limited career path while the student who chooses the “human” route has a less clear but, ultimately, more wide-open path. Thus, while the IT graduate knows what her job options are and can encapsulate her skill set neatly by saying “I have a degree in programming”, the History graduate needs to take the time to inventory the skill set he has developed through his college experience and consider how that particular set of skills can be of benefit to an organization. It is of note that the skills that many organizations say they want in their employees are precisely the skills that the humanities graduates have developed. Knowing up front that the two types of education are different and what that difference means is essential to how a student understands their collegiate experience and its impact on their future. Certainly there is not a huge demand for people who majored in English Literature. But there _is_ a demand for employees who can read and interpret complex documents, who can write clearly and succinctly, and who can think creatively to solve problems. And the English Lit student may be better positioned to do that than your average business major. Colleges are spending millions of dollars on advertising to draw students to their campuses and tens of thousands more on developing new and exciting programs. Perhaps, in stead, they should invest in helping students see how the current programs can help them get ahead. Simply explain what the college experience is all about.