Why College?

This past week in SCH 101, one of the topics that came up was paying for college.  There was a lot of discussion on why we go to college at all and why it is so expensive.  We never got around to talking about my favorite subject, why go to college at all?

After all, it is certainly possible in the Midwest to graduate from High School, learn a trade, and keep a good job.  There are some skilled-jobs that do not require a college degree and make good money.  Many of the Scholars are going to college because they want a specific job that does require a college degree. However, you might ask the question, why does that job require you to go to college?  After all, a trade school could stuff Anatomy and Physiology into your brain quite well.

Going to college that changes you in deep ways.  We tell you to live with strangers in rooms that, in some cases, are little better than the housing projects.  We make you take all sorts of classes that, on the surface, do not have anything to do with your chosen career path.  We talk about Leadership and Service, Faith and Learning.  We refuse to give you a well-codified rubric and tell you we are looking for your best effort. Maybe most importantly, we make you back up your claims with data.

"A liberal education is at the heart of a civil society, and at the heart of a liberal education is the act of teaching." - A. Bartlett Giamatti  Majors are a recent invention when it comes to college education.  The essential part of college is the gathering together of students who want to learn deeply about "stuff".  Although that stuff is different for each student, the learning happens when you share what you are passionate about with others around you.  That sharing happens sometimes in the classroom, but more often in the coffee shop, the Mensa, the gym, and in the residence halls when no one can sleep.  This is one of the reason I do my best to keep options open in SCH 101.  After all, in order to learn deeply about your stuff, you need to be passionate about it. “Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.” ― Leonardo da Vinci

You can meet someone at an event, talk with them for 10 minutes about nearly anything, and be 95% confident that you know whether or not they have been to college.  It isn't just that you "know more stuff," but that you are able to talk about other people's stuff, that you may not know a lot about, in a reasoned and logical way.  You read books because you find them interesting, not because they are required for class.  You take classes that are completely outside your comfort zone because they sound fun.  And, when you have children, they develop a love of learning because that is what everyone else in the family is doing.

Finally - some humor from one of my favorite authors:

“But we're a university! We have to have a library!" said Ridcully. "It adds tone. What sort of people would we be if we didn't go into the library?"

"Students," said Senior Wrangler morosely.” 

― Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent