What's the Point?

In Chapter One of The Learning Paradigm College, Tagg poses the questions, "Is college, for many students, a barrier rather than a path? It's something to be gotten out of the way, over, past? Is college mainly a hoop for jumping through?" (p. 6).

As I've continued to pursue my education, I have wrestled with this question because I am from the camp that believes that college and higher education serves a higher purpose than to just help graduates get a job. I understand the need for colleges and universities to be able to measure outcomes on the basis of whether their students are able to get jobs after they leave with their diplomas.  However, I feel that the importance placed on this outcome is very shallow.

I am not asserting that this should not be a reason for many to attend college.  It is valid and obviously very important.  It's just that I know of many students who assume that they will have a job at the end of the road when it takes more than an education nowadays.  Certainly, if students are not learning at a deeper level, as Tagg puts it, their educational qualifications may be shaky at best. This doesn't provide a great foundation for deep learning in the future outside of college.

I struggle with the disappointment that the biggest reason students want to go to college is so they can get a job.  The choices they then make are geared towards that singular purpose.  Classes are chosen in a track system so students can get where they need to be in the shortest time possible.  The curriculum, as Tagg also points out, is just a collection of classes.  So what does the degree even mean?

I am still defining what my purpose for pursuing education is but what I do know is that I value learning in the moment and in the future. As a result of the mentality that college is just a place to get you somewhere, the value of college is seriously undermined. Unfortunately, I believe many colleges are bowing to public pressure to create programs geared more solely for employment and are slowly losing sight of a higher purpose.