Dissatisfied College Customers
Are Colleges Producing Disgruntled Graduates?
If college came with a money-back guarantee would you turn in your diploma for a full refund?
According to Reid Lyle, The answer is YES."I would most certainly ask for my money back. However, what irritates me more is that "they" stole 5 years of my life, which could have been used to actually learn something somewhere else. So, while $60,000 would be nice, I'd prefer to have my five years back."
Reid graduated with a Bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri's School of Journalism in 2005. Even before graduating and entering the workforce, he strongly felt that his education was not adequately preparing him for a profession.
"Instead of understanding production, many advertising students have a vague understanding of subjects such as Middle Eastern Geography, Law in Classical Athens, Epistemology, and Early German Film. These classes represent 12-hours of course work (5 months and $4,000) that I spent fulfilling seemingly unnecessary (and limited) upper-level general education requirements. I did not choose these courses because they seemed interesting or I thought I could apply them to my life. I enrolled in these courses because they were (in most cases) the ONLY available upper-level classes for which I was eligible."
Reid says that while he realizes the school was dedicated to providing a "well-rounded" education, many students are graduating with a "vague set of knowledge that is no way comprehensive." He would be much better off in the real world if he had more practical training in things like web design, radio production, and creative PowerPoint presentations.
Buyer Beware!
Personally, I'm surprised we don't hear more stories like this on 60 minutes or Dateline. I hear about how college is failing consumers all the time. (And yes, that is exactly how higher education refers to students. They are college consumers –as in paying customers)
My friend, Bonnie is a full-time computer programmer. She has worked very hard to complete her thesis in order to graduate with an MT from Georgia Southern University. (What's an MT? –It stands for "Master of Technology." I think the school just made this degree up a few years ago. I got suckered into this flashy new program when I went poking around campus looking for web design classes one day.)
My friend Bonnie has had a chance to see the other side of the system…
"One class I'm taking is Global Tech (which you liked.) You know the one where we pay $ to have students teach the class. The other class is an independent study in which I will create an excel spreadsheet for the professor to support the textbook for the course. In other words, I'm not learning ANYTHING and I'm providing him with a product that I normally would get paid for, but instead, I'm paying to do it.
Can you tell I'm upset?"
Yeah. Well, let me know how this degree works out for you because it never really impressed any of my potential employers –and I was working it! Oh, and about those "independent studies"; I've been there. It's a cheap way out for schools who do not have the resources to teach you something you really need to know. The funny thing is, I learned more by teaching myself using a Macromedia Flash training tutorial than I did by listening to an over-worked and underpaid adjunct professor (who would most likely be using the same tutorial to teach the class.)
It's Not Their Job To Prepare You For a Job
Higher education is a business. Colleges make the bulk of their money on athletes and patent-producing researchers. College may set the stage for study and socializing. It may grant you a degree. But in most cases, college doesn't prepare you for the real working world.
December 12, 2006
Posted in: Dissatisfied College Consumers
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