The real problem with higher education

During the past several weeks, my fellow opinion columnists have been tackling the tricky issue of boring required classes.

Cole Lewis asserted in “Attendance Policy Fallacy” that because most classes with mandatory attendance policies don’t teach “original concepts,” students should be allowed to miss as many classes as they want because the material is, in effect, boring.

In “Fed Up with the Education System,” Lexia Banks claimed students should be able to opt out of classes that don’t tailor entirely to their specific sets of interests, like Finite Mathematics.

Though I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been known to roll my eyes at the thought of a particularly physics-heavy astronomy lecture, and that Finite was essentially the bane of my academic career, I could not disagree more with their sentiments.

In fact, I find their nonchalant attitude toward the “less fun” aspects of their college
instruction to be a symptom of everything that is wrong with our conception of higher education today.

People view attending college as merely a boring necessity, only meant to serve only as a way to get a higher paying job.

We as a generation can’t be blamed entirely for this.

It was the attitudes of our parents and their parents that changed the social perception of a college degree from something elite scholars actively sought and earned, to a popular commodity with very little real-world value.

And I get it. I really do. It’s a bummer to have to sit and do an hour of homework for something we don’t necessarily care about while we’re in the prime of our lives.

But the point of a college education, now and as our forefathers saw it, was never to learn solely about our specific interests. It is an opportunity to learn about all things that affect our life — yes, even math.

Though we may not use all of the information we study in college for our future jobs, the critical thinking skills learned in every subject from a basic English class to 300-level biology will truly be valuable in most future endeavors.

The idea of skipping class simply because the material isn’t fresh is harmful.

Although you may be able to teach yourself three weeks worth of information a day or so before the test, you might have missed the individual insight each new teacher brings to the subject.

And, I mean, someone is paying for it, so you might as well show up every once in a while.

If you are looking to further your education only in a specific subject, go to a trade school. If learning about a wide variety of topics sounds difficult to you, don’t go to college.

The university system itself should not be held blameless — it needs to make an effort to hire engaging, insightful instructors.

College takes real work, real effort and real struggle. Anyone who expects or hopes for anything less is seriously discrediting those who are willing to give it.
That, in my mind, is the real problem.

­— mcaranna@indiana.edu