Let’s be real: everyone knows someone in university that probably shouldn’t be in university, but they manage to make it through every single year.
How is this possible? University education lacks nuance and rarely changes with the times. Anyone with a smartphone and a will to get a four-year degree can do it with the advancement of AI and help from peers.
College is expensive, so it might be a good thing to have classes based on the same high-school principals already drilled into our brains like summaries, memorization of facts, text analyses, algebra and more. However, this straight-forward approach to learning leads to long-lasting societal issues.
After making it through the system, there is no guarantee a student has mastered the skills it takes to solve complex problems. They probably only learned what it takes to cheat and be a good employee that answers to the boss — nothing more. This turns into a problem for society because instead of having masses of highly educated people and critical thinkers, we have masses of people who only care about keeping their job and solving problems with a band-aid.
In 2019, 1,188,000 business owners had a bachelor’s degree while 1,296,000 business owners only had a high school diploma or very little college experience, according to the United States Census Bureau. These numbers are very similar, showing a college degree does not necessarily improve an individual’s innovative tendencies, and it does not improve creativity in a drastic way.
The four-year degree program was built on the idea of creating well-rounded individuals who specialize in a specific area to exceed in a career. However, the result has turned into required, soulless gen-ed classes driven by pointless memorization with no connection to day-to-day life. This is a strategic money-grab by universities everywhere.
Part of the problem is systematic which was covered already, but some of the problem lies on the shoulders of professors. They should put more effort into collaboration and updating course material to allow students to develop actual critical thinking skills. This doesn’t mean more homework; it means creating assignments that mean more than summarizing or memorizing material.
The lack of critical thinking in the classroom might also stem from the professor’s lack of real-life experience in their field of expertise. For example, the English department comes to mind first. Many (not all) probably got their PhD and went right into teaching instead of dabbling in the field to understand the real-life applications of their work. It’s probably hard for them to realize annotating classic novels won’t land students a job.
Not all professors operate this way though. Some professors make an effort to update their courses with the times and apply their knowledge to current events. Some of my favorite classes have been gen-ed run by professors who are aware of this fact, and they teach in accordance to real life problems.
A big inspiration for this piece is Dr. Bill Williamson, Professor of Technical Communication, who is currently reconfiguring all of his classes to focus on AI in real-life applications. Now, this may not be realistic for every class to focus on, but the idea remains: professors should be putting their best effort in making the classroom experience translate to the real world.
Despite the problem being heavily systemic and reliant upon the teachers of our generation, students can take hold of their own education if they choose to.
Digging deeper into subjects that hold your interest is a great start. Reading or watching content made by professionals in that area could change your perception of the course material. Also, anyone can volunteer or intern in their career of interest to figure out how to apply their knowledge.
College courses need a revamp, but the four-year program can still mean something for those who aim to apply their knowledge further than the classroom.
