The world has experienced many calamities in our relatively short existence on this planet. We've dealt with oppressive heat, cold, natural and manmade disasters, political Turmoil, pestilence and war. One blight that has plagued humanity for almost 1000 years is the institution of college. Back in the time of the oldest university, The University of Bologna in 1088, Universities were different. They might have been more pure in intent. I won't get into the 'hows' and 'whys' of the early universities but since then, they have become something of an evil lurking behind a smiling prestigious mask festooned with acclaim and honor. Let's unmask this institution of greed. Let us delve into this rabbit hole of the college institution's deception and detrimental effect on individuals and this world.
These smiling used-car salesmen known as college administrators are holding your degrees - your credentials of mastery - hostage. That's right. hostage. Lets talk about their huge list of demands...
The Fluff
College's purpose should be to prove excellence, mastery and knowledge in a given field. It all comes down to proof. Proof is a worthy purpose. After all that is what potential employers want: proof of mastery. The proof might be in the pudding, as they say, but the evil is in the details.
College's do, in fact, prove excellence in a field but that is not all colleges "offer", or more precisely, demand. In addition to mastery proving courses, colleges require a list of courses unrelated to the field with which a student is interested. These classes range from the absurd to the good-to-know-but-why-is-this-a-required-course courses. I call these novelty courses. They serve no purpose with regards to the major of interest but are somehow required.
The biggest defense colleges give for these bullying mandates is to prove and make students more "well rounded". As far as life well-roundedness, there are 3 certainties.
- YOUR PERSONAL WELL ROUNDEDNESS IS NONE OF EMPLOYER'S BUSINESS. It is none of their business. It is none of college's business. Your well roundedness is a personal affair. It is none of a job coaches business
- EMPLOYERS DON'T CARE HOW WELL ROUNDED CADIDATES ARE. NOT REALLY.
- even if employers did care and it was their business, everyone is well rounded because everyone has passions, hobbies, affinities and knowledge outside of academics.
I once asked around online "what is the weirdest, most unrelated class you were required to take for your degree?". I received a host of ridiculous and empathy provoking answers but one stuck out: a "history of French cuisine" course was required for a man majoring in "Clinical Physiology". This kind of requirement serves 1 true purpose: to make colleges bank account more "well rounded". It is dishonest. It is immoral. It is crooked.
Colleges also set out to prove "academic well roundedness". This seems reasonable at first glance but consider that most individuals that have been through kindergarten through high school have more than enough academic well roundedness. Many claim that most general education credits in college are the same information that they learned in high school. Same stuff taught the same way in a different environment.
Another part of the "fluff" of college's greed is "exploratory" courses. Most or all colleges, as part of their programs, have a set of classes to explore different things adding the irony of "you are required to explore your options". There are courses for exploring college life, exploring careers, exploring yourself, exploring ethnicities, exploring gender, exploring exploration, and so on. Again, none of anyone's business what you have or have not "explored".
Mental Health: Students in crisis
What are the effects of all these unnecessary life well roundedness and academic well roundedness courses? mental health damage, for one. The correlation between college and detriment to mental health is well documented but hey, it is a small price to pay for a piece of paper saying you are well rounded enough to work in your field. Ok, that was sarcasm. It is not a small price to pay. It is a very large, horrible price to pay. Students have reported everything from stress to anxiety to suicide ideation and it is not a small percentage. It has been reported that the majority of students have experienced at least one of these mental health problems in college.
TMI:Information overload
Information overlaod is a thing. It is real. It is detrimental. Shoving too much information into our brain is like flooding a computer with too much data at once. Performance is slowed down, overheating happens, damaging the computer. Also, when too much information is acquired in a period of time, that information is "diluted". the rapidly stored information is that much harder to store and therefore that much harder to recall. If for example Tim the mechanical engineering student is forced to learn history of gingerbread houses and gender studies etc. he might accidentally grab those metaphorical arrows from his quiver when he is trying to figure out how to build a machine or figure out design problems with a drill.