Reflections On My College Education

My college had and has a fine reputation for being in the upper end of the higher-education spectrum.  And that has always left me a bit baffled.  I never thought it was that great.  Perhaps I just didn’t select the right major, the right classes and/or the right teachers.

In retrospect, the single greatest collection of classes that I had was ROTC.  Beyond the military basics of strategy and tactics, these classes taught leadership and management principles, which I have used ever since.

I also found the science courses valuable – especially physics.  I wish I had taken a lot more science.

I elected to major in speech-communication.  Most of those subjects were a complete waste of time.  From acting to oral interpretation to speech pathology to radio and TV production.  Zero.  (I suppose the class on persuasion had some application.)

Some of the other subjects, required to round out the bachelor-of-arts degree included introductory instruction  in psychology, literature, history, philosophy, music and art appreciation (yawn!), political science and economics.  Waste of time and money.

Then there was the mandatory Bible and religion.  Will never forget the boring geriatric professor who taught the Old Testament survey course.  He wrote the textbook, which was equally dull in scope and content.

It's my fault for selecting as my foreign language classical Greek.  Although I made straight A’s both years, it is of no practical value whatsoever now.

A class in creative writing, however, was both fun and challenging, and it has served me well beyond my college days.

And a class in philosophy was helpful because it taught me better how to think.

So…there you have it….the military was best….followed by the sciences, a single creative writing and philosophy class.

As Matt Damon’s character says to the snobbish Harvard grad student in “Good Will Hunting,” “Someday you’re gonna realize that you dropped 250 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.”

A college education ought to be viewed as an investment – which it certainly is!  And one should look at the return on that investment.  In that regard, I would steer clear of the liberal arts subjects and concentrate on the instruction which is going to best offer preparation for success in the “real world.”