Has the ideal of getting a college education to become a well-rounded, informed & competent individual died?

Question

The Q above is the shortened headline Q which fits the Q-box. Here is the fully-worded Q that I wanted to ask: Has the ideal of getting a college education to become a well-rounded, informed& competent individual who contributes to a better society, died? NO yeses or no's; please explain why you answered the way you did?

TWH 08182006 Last Q of the day.

Tony T, and what are those "objective facts."

glurpy posing a Q in response to a Q wiyhout answering the Q asked or your own Q is really not helpful. Why don't you ask your Q and see what answers you get.
TWH 08252006

Kraftee, the answer to your closing Q is this--With all the debt they had to take on, they are probably hocked to their eyeballs. Lliving at home lets them avoid the pain of doing without the luxuries and conveniences they probably grew up with and which they believe they are entitled to given that they graduated and did what their parents, their employers, and society expected of them.

Many answers deserved best answer honors and many agreed the ideal is no longer a primary objective when one goes on past highschool to college. What a loss and what a shame to dumbdown the purpose and goals of exploring and improving ourselves as whole human beings. TWH 08252006

Answer 1

Yes.

College is now more of a vocational training or a weeding out process for employers.

The price has risen so much faster than regular inflation that there is a lot of pressure to only major in something that will allow you to get your money back.

Answer 2

Traditional "liberal" education (not political liberal, but liberal in the sense of being a free individual) did make the aim of college education the development of well-rounded people. However, over the last twenty or thirty years there's been more and demand from industry for trained (not educated but trained) graduates who can enter the workforce. The result has been a shift away from liberal education to career education.

Now, I don't know all the statistics and facts, but I doubt that traditional liberal education has died, though it may be kind of weakened. Certainly colleges like Harvard, Bennington and many other private colleges still stress a liberal ed, while the public colleges may have had to become more career-oriented because that's what the taxpayers seem to want.

Answer 3

Perhaps it isn't completely dead but in the last couple of decades, the direction of post high school education has begun to evolve from the description that you give in your question (the well-rounded education goal for college educated people) to a more pragmatic one of offering specific, targetted vocational training aimed at specific job goals. I also think that the increased specialization that is characteristic of many areas of the job market has something to do with it.

In all fairness to the 4-year colleges and universities, most still include at least a smattering of what we used to call "general education" courses in their requirements for graduation. These courses are assumed to contribute to becoming the "well-rounded, informed, competent individual" that our society needs.

However, I think students today are seeking specific marketable job skills as much or even more than they are seeking to extend the scope of their high school's curricula. Today's students are quite pragmatic in their approach to advanced training and I think you will find that even elementary school students are beginning to explore vocational choice. This exploration continues through middle and high school so by the time they are seniors, many already have made some kind of vocational decision and want the advanced training that will get them there. Some of them may have little tolerance for the general education courses that might be tangential to the courses that are directly related to the type of vocation they have chosen. The result may be that some colleges have relaxed these requirements and provided educational programs that cater to what they perceive as their current and future enrollees expect. The colleges are competing for students just like businesses compete for our patronage.

Another observation: I am a former high school teacher and I noticed that even in high school, the students began to specialize and track themselves in their course selections. This went on for several years until just a few years ago the school board began increasing the number and changing the types of courses required for graduation. No more can they get by taking just one or two math courses, a couple of English courses and a science course. By now they must take 4 years of English, etc. So maybe the well-reounded part of their education is taking place at the high school level now more than was the case 20 years ago. Just a theory.

At least that's my take on the subject. Interesting question. Made me think. And think of another question:

If we assume that what I say has some validity, then why do so many post-college students move back home to live with their parents when it would appear that their goal is to get trained for a job so they can get out there and earn money doing something they are trained for and that they think they would like?

Answer 4

I do not think the ideal of being educated (as opposed to merely qualifying for employment) has died, but I do think that it is in danger.

For example, in the sixties and seventies, the most popular majors (by far) were philosophy and English. Today, business is the most popular major in the nation.

Because students are told (by their parents, by the media, etc.) that in order to GET A JOB they must go to college, most of them have been indoctrinated into believing that the aim of a college education is to gain financial stability, and to gain the hard skills valued by corporate employers.

If that were the case, there would be no difference between vocational schools and universities. And indeed, in many places, that difference is eroding.

"Education" is derived from the Latin preposition "e" (or "ex"), which means "out of," and the Latin verb "ducere," which means "to lead." Education is meant to lead one out of solipsism and self-interest, and into community.

Education is supposed to lead one into awareness of (and commitment to) the value of others, not to encourage valuation of one's self above all.

Well, that's my two cents.

Answer 5

Should it have been an ideal in the first place? Do we need well-rounded people who have no strong specialization or do we need more people who are passionate about a single subject area?

Answer 6

yes, the world is too competitive for such lofty, impractical ambitions. you need to develop a specific skill set in college to qualify for a good profession. general liberal arts study may be interesting but it has very limited career value. i say, become successful and then contribute your wealth to charity, don't make your education the charity.

Answer 7

It appears to have. At least all of the objective facts say so.