This is a response to "Head to head: Is college necessary for success?" that ran on Oct. 27.
In light of the looming problems of student debt and college graduate unemployment, students and their parents are starting to rethink their approach to college education. The emphasis is being placed more and more on finding a good career afterward rather than on receiving a formative, life-enriching education. Prospective students are often encouraged by friends, parents and advisors to choose majors that have good turnover rates for employment, like engineering, business and biology, instead of "softer" majors, such as English, history, journalism and music, that they may have a strong interest in. This combination of viewing school only as a means to a career end and the concentration in a field that may or may not be the student’s interest, but is chosen because of its career potential, is contributing to unhealthy classroom attitudes.
Many students skip classes whenever they feel like it, and when they attend, they stare at their laptops instead of listening to the professor and taking notes. Homework is seen as an annoyance to be put off as long as possible. Despite their lack of academic intensity or focus, students still want to get good grades, and tests are the main grading determiner. Hence, the pre-test cram often lasts the entire night before an exam. Academic studies and personal experience show that cramming is not an effective tool for storing information long-term, so a decent test grade obtained from cramming doesn’t accurately reflect how much knowledge will be retained about the subject months or years afterward. What we’re seeing is the reversal of what tests are meant to accomplish. Exams are meant to incentivize students to learn the material, which is the whole point of taking a class. But now students are learning for the tests, spending little time and effort trying to understand and take in the classroom information until it becomes clear that the information will be required for the test. Guides given by professors who want to make studying for their tests easier on students exacerbate the problem, in effect telling the students that they don’t have to learn all the other information not covered by the study guide. I’ve taken several classes in which detailed study guides were given, resulting in high overall grades but, I would assert, a reduced depth of knowledge in that field of study.
Of course, all of this is not to say that going to college primarily for a specific career is a bad thing. We are all here in preparation for entering a career field. But don’t make the mistake of making a career your only goal for college. While you’re here, sample the vast troves of knowledge at your disposal, whether you think the information applies to your intended career or not. No class is worthless; each one you take adds to your own collection of knowledge and helps to make you a more well-rounded, thoughtful and broadly competent individual. For students to reclaim the older ideal of college as a place of higher education meant to improve people as individuals, citizens and professionals, we must revive the spirit of learning and show interest and determination to succeed in every class we take. If we do this, we can become better people, not just better businesspeople.