Tuesday, August 7, 2007

University: The best option for students?

Doing some course readings in the library today i commented to a friend of mine that my course that dealt with warfare throughout world history was very exciting and he should consider taking it up next semester. His reply was something that i've heard all too often in my short university life "I can't because it won't help my course". Warfare was a subject that he found fascinating yet because it had nothing to do with his Law degree it would simply be a waste of time and delay his degree by six months. Is university about creating passions for students or just simply allowing them to take the safe course in life?
Our universities are churning out more degrees now than ever before and the job markets in law, journalism and commerce are so full that simply having a degree is not good enough anymore. Degrees have to be more open so that students can enjoy the full range of studies on offer and possibly they will find a passion that they never knew was inside of them in the first place. Reading the text of Apple CEO Steve Job's address at Stanford university he talks of taking a class in calligraphy that had nothing to do with his degree but it awoke his passions and twenty years later that same calligraphy ended up on his mac computers.
Lets expand degrees so students aren't forced to constrain their passions to a particular subject.

No comments: