As part of orientation, new students are coming to campus to look around, get information and schedule classes for the fall semester. I have always enjoyed this time of year. It's nice to see new face
s eager to come to school. I'm a little disenchanted, though, with what I see from too many students. Where education is concerned, I realize I am a disappearing dinosaur, but I think the reason to go to college is to get an education. But, increasingly, I see students coming to college to get a degree. They have been told a college degree is the key to success, both personal and financial, in later life. Certainly, studies show those with a college education earn substantially more over the course of their lifetimes than those without. The inference drawn is that the college degree explains the difference. Not so. It's the college education that explains the difference. A college degree represents a certification an individual has studied a variety of fields and attained some acceptable level of mastery of those subjects. It is the education the degree represents that is important, not the degree itself. With the exception of a few applied disciplines on our campus, professors regularly hear students ask, "If I major in your subject, what kind of job will I get after graduation?" In economics we have even created an impressive brochure that shows a list of occupations represented by our past graduates. Nonetheless, I frequently find myself telling students, "Don't worry so much about employment. Get a good education and you will get a good job." Too often I see a discouraging "just-get-by" attitude on the part of students. It indicates all they want is to accumulate enough credits to get the degree and move on. A degree should not represent a collection of credits. Rather, it symbolizes an accumulation of knowledge. Some politicians have as a goal that when students graduate from high school they have already earned a year's worth of college credit. I know there are some students in high school who are capable of taking college courses. In fact, I occasionally have high school students in my freshman economics class and they do well. They are the exception rather than the rule. Given that a third of my college freshman do not learn enough to get a C-minus in my class, I doubt the average high school student could.
For further details visit at:www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/06/28/columnists/guest_column/11444110.txt
s eager to come to school. I'm a little disenchanted, though, with what I see from too many students. Where education is concerned, I realize I am a disappearing dinosaur, but I think the reason to go to college is to get an education. But, increasingly, I see students coming to college to get a degree. They have been told a college degree is the key to success, both personal and financial, in later life. Certainly, studies show those with a college education earn substantially more over the course of their lifetimes than those without. The inference drawn is that the college degree explains the difference. Not so. It's the college education that explains the difference. A college degree represents a certification an individual has studied a variety of fields and attained some acceptable level of mastery of those subjects. It is the education the degree represents that is important, not the degree itself. With the exception of a few applied disciplines on our campus, professors regularly hear students ask, "If I major in your subject, what kind of job will I get after graduation?" In economics we have even created an impressive brochure that shows a list of occupations represented by our past graduates. Nonetheless, I frequently find myself telling students, "Don't worry so much about employment. Get a good education and you will get a good job." Too often I see a discouraging "just-get-by" attitude on the part of students. It indicates all they want is to accumulate enough credits to get the degree and move on. A degree should not represent a collection of credits. Rather, it symbolizes an accumulation of knowledge. Some politicians have as a goal that when students graduate from high school they have already earned a year's worth of college credit. I know there are some students in high school who are capable of taking college courses. In fact, I occasionally have high school students in my freshman economics class and they do well. They are the exception rather than the rule. Given that a third of my college freshman do not learn enough to get a C-minus in my class, I doubt the average high school student could.For further details visit at:www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2009/06/28/columnists/guest_column/11444110.txt
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