College About More Than a Job After
March 6th, 2024
The four-year college education is under fire from some quarters, for not leading every student to a job. In a major piece in the Wall Street Journal (Feb. 24-25), the paper reported that “roughly half of college graduates end up in jobs where their degrees aren’t needed.” Yet, the American college education has always been about more than a job.
College-going is also about educating a thick stratum of our populace to participate effectively in and lead our society. Colleges can maybe do a better job of this, but more not fewer need the benefits of what college has to offer.
Plato didn’t teach the young of Athens in the grove at his academy to prepare them for jobs, but rather for leadership of ancient, sometimes democratic, Athens.
Nor has college promised to lead to work that pays better than, say, in the skilled crafts. I have a young friend at my American Legion Post who is a millwright. He pulls down six figures a year, traveling the world, maintaining nuclear plants. Friend obviously doesn’t need college, though I contend he and society would benefit if along the way he immersed himself part-time in some of the liberal arts.
Encompassing the natural and social sciences, history, literature and philosophy, the liberal arts challenge the student to explore the fundamental questions, such as: What matters? How should I live my life? How should we organize society to achieve the order, harmony and prosperity most of us seek?
I blended a career in politics with college teaching. Whenever I was kicked out of elective office or a senior government executive role, which was frequently, I took refuge in the Academy. And I loved it. In my courses on politics, I cherished the spunk and intelligence of my students.
We wrestled with Thucydides and the Melian Dialogue. Should the inhabitants of the island of Melos have negotiated with the invading Athenians to save their lives, rather than face certain defeat, with all males executed, women and children sold into slavery. Valuable practical lessons for today’s labor-management conflicts.
The students and I parsed the nearly incomprehensible school aid funding formula for the public schools in my state of Illinois, which result in some schools receiving less than half the per student funding of other districts. And of whether such inequities are ever justified? Useful for the many who later serve on our thousands of school boards.
With the financial support of an alum, I took one class to Mexico City during an election there. Drawing on one of my contacts, the students and I met and bonded with several young Mexican candidates. Over cervezas near the Palacio Nacional, we learned of the values, aspirations and strategies of these young politicos. Not unimportant, as Mexicana culture is becoming more influential in America.
None of the above examples, and myriad others, lead to a job right out of college. Yet, I contend the breadth of the liberal arts education can be invaluable in later moving up the career ladder. The problem-solving insights gained in our class discussions, and perhaps even that sparkling historical bon mot offered in a cocktail party conversation, might well give a job candidate a leg up on the non-college educated in the quest for an executive position.
Of course, many college grads plan all along to go on at some point for an MD, MBA, MPA, CPA, MPH, JD and other professional degrees, which require the four-year sheepskin.
The big question for colleges and public policymakers is how to offer the college experience, especially that of the liberal arts tradition, without saddling students with crushing debt.
Higher education is to be faulted for relying too heavily over the decades on student loans. In addition to the conventional four-year degree, there may also be additional formats to build portfolios of liberal arts educational achievement over time, which would encompass parts or the whole of the college education,
College subject matter can important to individuals—and to society—even for the many who don’t “need” college. We all need to step back and explore questions like “What matters?”
Nowlan served as an Illinois House member, state agency director, senior aide to three Illinois governors, and campaign manager for U.S. Senate and presidential candidates. He has taught at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and Knox College.
