about college, part 1
Catherine's father wrote this to some students he knows who are entering college this semester. Worthy reflections for the young as well as the old.
Part One: The purposes of college
One reason for going to college
I want to discuss why a college education is important. At the risk of over-simplifying, the first function of college is to provide a door into the world of the educated adult. Those outside that world do not — and cannot — understand what that means. Among other things, it means a broader awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the world around us, not only through the viewpoint of our own culture, but beyond that. The lesser educated person is aware of some of this, but not as much.
In fact, the lesser educated person is usually unaware of the depths of his ignorance — he not only doesn't know about the "world" beyond him, he doesn't know that that world exists. (One characteristic of higher education is that it provides an awareness of our ignorance. To put it another way, when I graduated from high school I was aware of how much I knew; today I am aware of how much I don't know.) As we learn more, we learn that there is more to be learned ("Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise" — I remember that from a college course).
The reason college provides this doorway is because colleges (and universities, of course) follow the vision of a liberal arts education. The liberal arts ideal begins in elementary and secondary school. It means that you learn something in several areas, specifically in the areas of language and literature, mathematics, science, history, art, music, physical education, and foreign languages. These will inevitably include other areas, such as psychology, sociology, geography, and anthropology. We should not end our studies of these areas in high school, according to the American liberal arts ideal (in contrast with various European educational systems, which do end this with secondary education). This is why many see the American college system as the best in the world — although probably not our pre-college education. (In Europe, university begins the way our graduate schools operate; in Japan, college is seen as a four year vacation.)
There are other gateways into the world of increased awareness, appreciation, and understanding and I know a few non-college graduates who, through widespread reading and thinking, have entered in this way, but it is not common. There are also college graduates (probably fairly common among those who graduated in the 1970s when many colleges weakened the liberal arts vision) for whom college didn't succeed in moving them into this realm. It depends on going to a college with a rigorous commitment to the liberal arts ideal — one that won't give you a degree without following the path.
A second reason for going to college
Employers often demand a college degree for a job. On the lowest level this is because it means you are a member of The Club. But I also think that it means you have a general set of skills, an awareness of the world around you not generally held by the high school graduate, and a proven ability to perform on a certain level. Note that college is not really necessary for this and many highly qualified high school graduates are unfairly locked out of certain jobs because they don't belong to The Club.
Often high school counselors (and others) crassly present this as the primary value of college (I, myself, never heard such crude arguments when I was in high school). That certainly is the second reason to attend college, and such an argument has a strong appeal if you come from an environment where college is not part of your family tradition and seems primarily the gateway to a better life. It certainly is, for most people. It's just that this is, in my opinion, the secondary value of college.
College doesn't make you a better person in any moral sense, as good people exist on every educational level, as do bad people. But it does allow you to enter the world discussed above.
Part One: The purposes of college
One reason for going to college
I want to discuss why a college education is important. At the risk of over-simplifying, the first function of college is to provide a door into the world of the educated adult. Those outside that world do not — and cannot — understand what that means. Among other things, it means a broader awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the world around us, not only through the viewpoint of our own culture, but beyond that. The lesser educated person is aware of some of this, but not as much.
In fact, the lesser educated person is usually unaware of the depths of his ignorance — he not only doesn't know about the "world" beyond him, he doesn't know that that world exists. (One characteristic of higher education is that it provides an awareness of our ignorance. To put it another way, when I graduated from high school I was aware of how much I knew; today I am aware of how much I don't know.) As we learn more, we learn that there is more to be learned ("Hills peep o'er hills, and Alps on Alps arise" — I remember that from a college course).
The reason college provides this doorway is because colleges (and universities, of course) follow the vision of a liberal arts education. The liberal arts ideal begins in elementary and secondary school. It means that you learn something in several areas, specifically in the areas of language and literature, mathematics, science, history, art, music, physical education, and foreign languages. These will inevitably include other areas, such as psychology, sociology, geography, and anthropology. We should not end our studies of these areas in high school, according to the American liberal arts ideal (in contrast with various European educational systems, which do end this with secondary education). This is why many see the American college system as the best in the world — although probably not our pre-college education. (In Europe, university begins the way our graduate schools operate; in Japan, college is seen as a four year vacation.)
There are other gateways into the world of increased awareness, appreciation, and understanding and I know a few non-college graduates who, through widespread reading and thinking, have entered in this way, but it is not common. There are also college graduates (probably fairly common among those who graduated in the 1970s when many colleges weakened the liberal arts vision) for whom college didn't succeed in moving them into this realm. It depends on going to a college with a rigorous commitment to the liberal arts ideal — one that won't give you a degree without following the path.
A second reason for going to college
Employers often demand a college degree for a job. On the lowest level this is because it means you are a member of The Club. But I also think that it means you have a general set of skills, an awareness of the world around you not generally held by the high school graduate, and a proven ability to perform on a certain level. Note that college is not really necessary for this and many highly qualified high school graduates are unfairly locked out of certain jobs because they don't belong to The Club.
Often high school counselors (and others) crassly present this as the primary value of college (I, myself, never heard such crude arguments when I was in high school). That certainly is the second reason to attend college, and such an argument has a strong appeal if you come from an environment where college is not part of your family tradition and seems primarily the gateway to a better life. It certainly is, for most people. It's just that this is, in my opinion, the secondary value of college.
College doesn't make you a better person in any moral sense, as good people exist on every educational level, as do bad people. But it does allow you to enter the world discussed above.
Comments