Imagine if everything you learned led to the job you wanted. Imagine now that the job you wanted were no longer available or became obsolete. What would your hard fought education be worth then?
More and more I am seeing commercials for schools like University of Phoenix that advise students to only take courses that lead directly to the job they want. Perhaps I’m from another generation (or even planet), one that believes in a well-rounded education and learning that promotes understanding of what you want to do and what you are capable of as a human being. The system is geared less and less for that sort of person anymore.
The majority of college systems and legislation–especially in the community college sector–are geared towards degree completion in a field that will lead to immediate employment. I’m not troubled by this, but I am troubled by the limited criteria of those tracks. More and more the track system guides us to take only the courses some entity deems absolutely necessary to a specific job line. Wanna be a secretary? There’s a degree for that. Wanna be an HR Specialist? There’s a degree for that too. However, where in all of these degree paths is the idea of becoming a strong learner and critical thinker?
The difficulty I have with track programs is that they train us to do one thing. These programs fail to recognize that society is ever-evolving and that evolution requires critical thinking and a varied skillset. It isn’t about learning the specific set of skills required to do a job so much as it is learning how to be a learner, a team player, and a critical thinker.