Recently, I recalled a conversation with my friends about the value of a college degree. They did not agree about the current job requirements for a post-high school degree. What they observed, people without degrees do just as well in the workplace.
I disagreed. Getting to that job interview requires an indication that I’ve put in my dues. For example, a high school student will not have the problem solving skills as a college student.
About 20 years ago, I graduated from University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science degree. College was a trying time, but it was a necessary one. It taught me focus and discipline myself. It taught me to be persistent. It taught me to step out of my comfort zone. All of the ingredients of a problem solver was instilled in college.
High school was another story. It was mostly text book driven. Teachers have a set of problems & answers that they dish out verbatim. They don’t teach student to improvise and collaborate. In this video below, Dan Myers, a math teacher, observed kids today have very short attention span and schools are not teaching them to be persistent problem solvers. Teachers are not thinking out of the box, and he illustrated that well.
[Link to TED]
Looking at the future generation, I wish they’re eager to collaborate with their peers to get things done. I wish they share, for the sake of progress. I wish them to be excellent problem solvers.
Maybe then a college degree will no longer be a job requirement.
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hey Rudy,
I think I’m with you on this. In my opinion, one of the important things about college is that is teaches you how to think and solve problems (assuming that you’re getting a “real” degree 🙂 ).
Steve, BSME
PS. That said, if you pay attention in high school and work hard, I think there’s a lot you can do with a high school degree.
I goofed around too much in high school. That carried over to college — and I paid dearly for it!
So pay attention early! It will pay off!
Great video! Hopefully this kind of idea spreads around in the teaching world.