Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
The purpose of a college education is NOT to get a job, it is to learn critical thinking, how to evaluate material, how to study and become skilled at ongoing education, to broaden your vistas and to explore the great and the forgotten ideas that have shaped our world. These are abilities that will be of benefit to anyone who gains them, whether in a specific field or for a person who never seeks out of home employment. In the best situations a higher education should be both broad and in some area deep. If you only think an education should be given to learn for a job, there is no reason to go to high school either. Most people didn't before the 1940's.
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I agree about the value of the liberal arts core curriculum in baccalaureate degree programs, teaching people how to learn about the Big Picture, but many young people don't have the money or interest in this coursework when they could do as the bank teller above and be happy working their way up in a "job" they enjoy and that gives them time off on weekends, holidays etc. to be with their growing family.
And yes, I do think "education should be given
to learn a [specific] job", as in
nursing, physician assistant, paralegal, engineer, lawyer and physician. While they are probably getting baccalaureate degrees in the process, once they become heavily invested in these "jobs" and the student debt it takes to get there, I don't think many take the plunge into a lower-paying job in which they use their liberal arts knowledge to explore broader horizons and the forgotten ideas that shaped our world.
They have to repay their own educational debts and save for that of their children who will hopefully aim toward "getting a JOB".