Vitruvian Man - Leonardo Da Vinci

I’ve raised a number of private objections about the college experience.  A couple people said that College is a great thing because it makes you a more “well rounded” person.

Personally, I would love to go back to college – if I had the time and the money to do so.  I would love to sharpen my language skills in Japanese.  I would love to take classes on Illustration, Photography and Graphic Design.  I would love to take classes on Philosophy and Religion.  I want to rejoin the Folk Dance Ensemble and learn how to Tango.  There is still so much I want to learn, contemplate and understand of the world.

There are so many things I want to learn but that is because of a life experiences that made me question and really think about what life is about.  When I was in college, I had no idea what I wanted to learn or to study.  To my mother’s credit, she urged me to study mathematics and computer science because I was “naturally” good at it, however to be more precise, I just had more experience programming computers than the typical teenager.  But while in college, I spent more time learning how to manage unnecessary drama and over-complicated relationships than studying.

Being a “well rounded person” or “Renaissance Man” comes from a desire and thirst for life.  But for a listless youth, being “well rounded” is only a veiled excuse for having no direction.  And this becomes very problematic especially when looking for a job.

Parents look at college so that their child learns marketable job skills and can launch a career.  Parents do not look at college as a way for their child to “have meaningful experiences”, “find themselves” or to become “well rounded.”  And this sentiment is widely echoed in the promises of our government as well:

“There are few things as fundamental to the American Dream or as essential for America’s success as a good education. This has never been more true than it is today. At a time when our children are competing with kids in China and India, the best job qualification you can have is a college degree or advanced training. If you do have that kind of education, then you’re well prepared for the future — because half of the fastest growing jobs in America require a Bachelor’s degree or more. And if you don’t have a college degree, you’re more than twice as likely to be unemployed as somebody who does.”
- President Obama, April 24th 2009

People are looking to college to gain marketable job skills and to compete in the global market.  Here are the top ten fastest growing jobs in America:

1. Network Systems and Data Communications Analyst
2. Physician Assistant
3. Computer Software Engineer, Applications
4. Computer Software Engineer, Systems Software
5. Network and Computer Systems Administrator
6. Database Administrator
7. Physical Therapist
8. Medical Scientist
9. Occupational Therapist
10. College Instructor

All of these jobs are highly specialized fields.  There is nothing “well rounded” about them.  More than half of these are technology related.  And I’ve already said my piece that computer skills are not academic, but vocational/technical.