Have you ever thought about what you’ve really learned in college?

I’ve have been here at FAU for three years and I must ask myself this question at least a few times everyday.

As I finish my junior year this spring I’ve been seriously questioning what I’ve been doing in these past three years of college. I get decent grades, even though I don’t really study at all, I have a lot of friends on campus and I’m involved in many clubs and organizations. So it may seem that my three years have been very meaningful and productive to someone looking from the outside. In reality I feel as if my college experience has been filled with attempts to stay awake in classes I truly care nothing about and a bunch of meaningless conversations with people I hardly know.

I’m not blaming this on anyone else but myself. I don’t blame the teachers; it’s not their fault that I’m not interested in what their teaching. I don’t blame all the kids who think that college should be going to parties and getting drunk; if that’s what makes them happy then that’s fine with me.

I suppose I was just looking for something else when I “went off to college”. Something big or something small, it didn’t matter what it was, but I would know when I found it. I guess I’ve just come to the realization that college isn’t quite as important as everyone made it out to be. I know everyone’s response to that is, “you can’t get a job without a degree”, and I’m won’t argue that, but I will question it. Everything I’ve learned during my time at college has been through jobs outside of class. I think that the experience I’ve gained in the workplace has been far more beneficial to me, than the garbage they throw at us in half of our classes.

I know I’m not the only on who has questioned the importance of college. I talk to people all the time who have the same doubts and this gives me a little hope. A little hope that maybe our generation will try to change the standards of society or at least adjust them a little bit. Maybe we can find some way to actually use those college years effectively. But I know that many people, including myself feel as if college has been one big scam to takes us (and our parents) for as much money as possible.