Why doesn't college prepare you for the real world?

Hmmmm. Very interesting.

 

I have an idea why not require students work one year for every year of school after say two years of study, so you would go to school until two years are in then work for a year then school for a year then work for a year and getting your degree after your last work year (paid work) and continue this in graduate school. This down year could also be a time to do work outside your field of study a biology pre-med major or medical school student could explore through symposiums and such philosophy or social work or farming whatever they end up doing. It might take longer to leave school but you would leave with work experience and a wider breadth of academic knowledge. And if you happen to be a liberal arts major in Gender Studies at least you won't leave school useless with nothing to offer.

 

I've said this before and I'll say it again - after a 50 year career in the pharmaceutical manufacturing supply chain, I've come to recognize that a college degree that is grounded in the liberal arts is useless while leaving the student unprepared for the work place, naive to the real world work place and in deep debt.

Many of the kids going to college come from middle class backgrounds where the majority of them never had a job and didn't know how to work. They made many education decisions based on the advice of a college "advisor" whose main interest is to the benefit of the college. These students were allowed access to large loans to pay for an the emperors new clothes - all this while never having been responsible for anything of any harmful consequence in their lives. They come out of this experience uneducated in the needs of the workplace, naive to the true responsibilities in life, and deeply in debt.

When I hired them, many of these students had no concept of their place and responsibilities in an organization. In some cases I found that promoting high school grads from blue collar positions to administrative duties had a double gain - people who knew the system and who knew how to work and people who would pursue certs to maintain their position and look for promotion. Consider - a man or woman with kids at home, bills to pay, and a future of same-old, same-old will jump at an opportunity and will bust their butts to prove themselves. Another perq I got was the loyalty of the individual I had promoted from the ranks and the willingness of others to step forward with their best in hopes of the same opportunity. A win-win for all

It's only the opinion of an old retired man; ambitious, but uneducated people carry much more value than many college grads.

 

Wow. School needs to be re tooled!!

 

You may be right.

 

Reading in a book only lets you know something is there. Until you actually put your hands on something and prove you can do the job, it is just an assumption.

 

I like how you worded that! People should take note. It's called life experience.

 

Academia doesn't live in the real world. They don't know its requirements. It also doesn't like the current reality. It is preparing students for their hoped-for future world.

 

I have posted before I am a good example of that. My Navy electronics training and 3 years of experience in the fleet allowed me to by hired into my job as an IBM Customer Engineer for 47 years. I was in competition with 25 other guys, 13 of them had a college degree. Some time after I was hired I was told the reason I got the job was because I had the actual experience of working on electronic equiptment in the Navy. It was the actual experience that got me the job.

 

Both in the Navy and at IBM I worked with some very intelligent people. They were very book smart, but when it came to doing the job, they would hurt themselves with tools and damage the machines.

 

I agree with that.

 

Yeah. Books doesn't measure aptitude.

 

Them that can ------------ do. Them that cant----- teach. Them that cant teach ----------teach teachers. Them that cant teach teachers -----administrate. Them that cant administrate------------go into politics.

 

Wow. You don't give teachers much credit. Lol.

 

Depends entirely on the degree. A degree in Philosophy doesn't prepare you to do much with your life other than teach philosophy in college or wait tables, or maybe tend bar in the more eclectic establishments. What are you going to do in the workaday world with a PHD in Elizabethan poetry? On the other hand a Masters in engineering or architecture puts you in the six figure range fairly quickly.

 

This is exactly the way it is.

 

yep. yep.