Why is it “acceptable” that college doesn’t prepare students for the real world? Being in the real world myself, I find college, for the most part, to be a huge waste of time. Granted, there are courses that are useful, but out of three years in college, only three of them were really worth taking. Whenever, I discuss this with people, the common response is, “College isn’t supposed to prepare you for the real world, it’s supposed to teach you how to learn.”
I think that’s a load of bull. Why can’t we be learning hands on and directly with local businesses in most or all of our courses? This would be beneficial for local businesses and students, as businesses would have the opportunity to discover the best young talent available,(lower recruiting costs) and students would be able to get a feel for different companies in the area.
Why can’t we learn more about our specific majors? I didn’t go to college to learn about astronomy and biology, I went to learn about business and marketing. If I wanted to learn about these topics, or need to for work, I can learn them on my own.
Do we have to listen to another lecture? College seems to be about older professors who love nothing more than to hear themselves talk, who seem to babble on endlessly on topics no one gives a crap about. Quite frankly, if you don’t have CURRENT field experience, I don’t want to listen to your theory on some useless model or opinion on how business has changed.
Can’t we do away with Powerpoint? Anyone who has sat in a college class in the past few years likely noticed the incredible dependence on Powerpoint. I had one professor who probably had 40 slides per class jam packed with information. It came to the point where he was just reading off of the screen. Talk to us, engage us in dicussion, inspire us. Tell us why we need to know this, how learning this will help us become successful.
The bottom line is that college, in my opinion, is foolishness now. It has become so watered down and uninspiring from kids enrolling who really shouldn’t be there and professors who have been teaching the same classes for fifty years that it has become an extension of high school. Granted, the job of acquiring credentials and real world experience lies within each student, but university has the opportunity to prepare students for the upcoming job market. This is important not only because U.S. employers are skeptical of student’s critical thinking skills, but also because our economy is becoming more globalized every day, creating tougher competition for our under educated population.
So what am I proposing? A completely new and fresh (I think) college concept that actually prepares students for the real world. One where there are no (or limited) “professors”, instead leaders from local businesses teaching a class or two. Get the businesses in the schools, get them interacting with new ideas, fresh perspectives. Give us present issues your business is facing and watch us work in teams to come up with creative solutions. Teach us the most important skill in business, the art of the presentation. Teach us how to captivate an audience, how to motivate and energize our fellow students, how to use data and gut instincts, how to overdeliver instead of simply meeting expectations, how to deal with people in a professional setting, how to get your point accross without throwing people under the bus. Make us undertsand the benefits of candor, how important internal communications is, how business is all about negotiation, how teamwork is key, how people’s jobs should align with the company’s mission and values.
I’m tired of attending a sligtly harder version of high school, it’s time for a change. It’s time to focus on results and winning, because that’s what business is all about.

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