Curriculum emphasis on job search detracts from purpose of higher education 
Last week in my international business class, we were supposed to talk about the United Nations and the problems and achievements associated with it. Instead, my professor decided to switch the lecture that day to the topic of "how to network." Instead of talking about important issues relevant to the world, we spent an hour talking about ourselves.
As a student in the business school, I've become accustomed to this sort of thing. For three years, I've had to take an endless slew of required courses that are supposed to kick me out on to the path of professionalism — courses that are supposed to prepare me for my future career. Topics range from how to write a memo to how to dress professionally — most of them common sense, none of them particularly engaging. So when we forewent discussing the U.N. last week, I was disappointed, mainly in the fact that rather than placing an emphasis on expanding my mind, my secondary education has been centered around getting a job.
In the midst of our shoddy economy, obtaining a job is important to all young people, as it should be. However, in order to gain savviness in the art of searching for a job, we have begun to sacrifice the most valuable asset not just to ourselves but to society and to the rest of the world, and that is pure knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Knowledge sculpts the way we think and what we do. Our knowledge is what shapes our perspectives, and it is what individuals use to drive mankind forward. And somehow in our fear-driven, competitive state of mind, we have started to replace the acquisition of knowledge with the acquisition of "skill."
Certainly, the importance of things like how to network or how to build a resume cannot be dismissed. But when there are entire major curriculums devoted to instructing students on things of that nature, I can't help but wonder if somewhere between ancient Greece and the "American Dream," we've lost sight of the fundamentals and what is truly important.
How to get a job for yourself, how to climb the ladder to get yourself to the top, how to make yourself stand out and look the best. These are not ideas that make the world go around. These are not the principles upon which higher education was constructed, and these should not be the emphasis of my college education.
In our day and age where resources abound and competition is cutthroat, staying on top is necessary. But even more necessary than staying on top is ensuring that we have constructed a solid foundation for our minds, and that means acquiring what it takes to analyze the world around us and understand it. That means viewing learning as an end in itself rather than just for the sake of getting a job.
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