Rethinking the College Experience: More Than a Career Ticket

Reading Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “What is the Point of College?” It made me stop and think about what I've always assumed about college. Like anyone, I'd always assumed that college was a stepping stone—something you can do to get a degree so that you can have a good job. But this article made me reconsider that assumption. It wasn't just thought-provoking; occasionally it was even infuriating—good kind.

Below are three quotes from the article that left me with extreme reactions.

1. "The idea behind the liberal arts is not to train you for one job but to train you for any job—and for life itself." This one left me in shock—good one. As a student athlete about to enter a world that is constantly battled over in the form of money, contracts, and pro aspirations, I never hear anyone mention anything regarding college as life preparation. That's more than anything that ever went through my mind regarding my education. It made me realize college is maybe more about learning to think, learning to question, and learning to live with other people instead of learning what to think. It's not all business training; it's life training. And that's actually awesome.

2. "Students are increasingly treated as consumers, and universities as corporations." That irritated me—but not because it's so. It's because it rings so very true. All of college life these days—tuition and hawking the classes—is starting to feel less like a sale than not. Instead of being viewed as inquiring students, students are more and more viewed as customers. That mentality devalues college's promise. It should not be a question of getting the most "bang for your buck." It should be a question of development, learning who you are and what you want to bring to the world.

If we only care about dollar return on a degree, we're forgetting the higher value of college.

3. "College is where you create a self, an idea of who you are and what you care about." This was just such a true quote to me. It caused me to recall that even when I'm chasing dreams on the field or in the classroom, I'm also learning what I care about as a person. I've learned so much in just the last few years—how I think, what I socialize with, what I believe. I thought that kind of growth was just an aftereffect of school. Now I think maybe it is the college purpose.

It's not about piling on your resume, but building your self. Appiah's article put me in a different mindset regarding college—not just regarding how to make it in the world, but regarding how to be more of myself. And maybe that is the real aim of college. Not simply to make a career, but to figure out who you are, what you care about, and how you want to live your life. That won't show up in a transcript—but it might be the most precious part of the whole thing.