I see a lot of moaning and criticism when it comes to kids going to college.
Students are forced to take classes that serve no purpose. Everything they need is free and online. The loans are soul crushing. Basically, it’s an enormous waste of time and money.
It’s echoed by graduates facing the cold, hard truth that a degree isn’t a golden ticket to a dream job. The assumptions that were ingrained in them by the institutions and authority figures they trusted are a source of regret, shame, and anger. I’ve seen it in the faces of former students at Best Buy checkout lanes and Hertz-Rent-A-Car front desks. “I got an A in all my classes; what did I do wrong?”
The school you attend; the degree you recieve; your GPA–unless you want an advanced degree (e.g., be an MD etc.), these things mean next to nothing. Basically, if you don’t plan on sticking around in higher ed for your masters or doctorate, you should rethink your expectations.
Does this mean college is pointless? Absolutely not. In fact, once we understand its true value, it’s a no-brainer.
Simply put, this true value is an immersion into a completely new social setting. For their entire lives, kids have been looking at the same people, traveling the same routes, consuming the same media and succuming to the same habits. On the first day of college, they can experience an instant, total reset to all of that. Like a cat hitching a boat ride to an undiscovered island in the middle of the Pacific, teeming with tasty, naive critters, their minds will suddenly have a myriad of new experiences to feast on.
Our youth is less socially capable than ever. Surprising, given how fluent and active they are with social media. Maybe there’s an inverse relationship between online and RL social skills. Maybe COVID worsened things. It’s clear, however, that they struggle with effective organizational communication and unfamiliar social settings.
Consequently, they don’t hunt down those new experiences and transform them into professional networks, social circles, newfound passions. They can’t effectively present their value to employers. Those four years in the new world have gone to waste.
Parents should be less “you need to get into a good school”, “what are your grades?” and “are you sure you’re getting the right degree?” Try instead, “who’d you meet this week?” “what are you listening to/watching?” “what clubs/student groups are you in?” and “what new things are you doing?” It’ll shed a much clearer picture.