What Exactly Did My College Degree Prepare Me For?

My college years did more for me than to improve my employment prospects.

I was always a studious child. My older siblings used to brag to their friends that I would read the encyclopedia (yes, I was a child that long ago) for fun. I’m not sure how deeply I dove into some of the drier subject matter of the Encyclopedia Britannica, but I will agree I was an avid reader and always looking for new avenues of information to impress my friends and family as the resident “know-it-all.” So, naturally, it only made sense — to me, my parents and my teachers — that I was college-bound.

Like far too many seventeen-year-olds (okay, I was a little precocious) I entered college without a clue as to what course of study would benefit me in the marketplace after graduation. And, quite frankly, I didn’t care. I chose a major based on personal interests and innate abilities that gave me a good portion of easy grades — much to my parents’ delight (the good grades, that is).

For my own part, I studied for the love of learning. I took courses in history, philosophy, psychology, math, science, literature, and dove deeply into a couple of foreign languages — courses are taken indiscriminately as they piqued my interest.

I have to say I enjoyed my college years but, in retrospect, my range of experiences wasn’t nearly what it could have been. I was a naive little bookworm, studying for the sake of studying. Reading for the joy it brought me. My college social life was puny, at best. I had a couple of minor boyfriends along the way — nobody worth bringing home to meet the parents — so I think that says it all. I exited college and wandered out into the mysterious world of “adulthood” — at least that’s what it was supposed to be.

I wasn’t an irresponsible child/adult. I landed a job within weeks of graduation. While my education did not influence my job choice and was not the reason I was hired, the fact that I actually had a degree may have impressed my employer enough to let them think I was at least capable of following through on a project from start to finish. Other than that, my education brought nothing to the party. I progressed through various positions with that employer — none of them making use of my hard-won knowledge. I typically worked side-by-side with people who had no degree, removing any doubts I may have had about my value-added education.

I did well enough in the work-a-day world. Wise use and investments with my money gave me a comfortable enough lifestyle. From the outside, I appeared to possess the average level of success in a working/middle-class sort of way.

Although I am no longer a student in the official sense of “signing up for classes/pay tuition/work towards a degree” kind of way, I was — and still, am — a student of the world. I have never stopped pursuing more knowledge. I am well-read. I have learned through, what my mother used to call, “the school of hard knocks.” I have embraced technology from the beginning, learning as I went along. I was always eager to take on the next challenge. I have completed the course requirements for additional degrees in my spare time. I have taken numerous writing courses (probably the most financially rewarding educational efforts I have made) and made a valiant effort at mastering at least two foreign languages (neither of which has yet served any practical purpose).

Did my college education make me a lifelong learner — or was college simply one of the stepping stones on the pathway of my lifelong quest to be a student of the world that was inborn from the start? More and more, I think I would answer with the latter statement. The thinking, educated person I believe I have become is much more than a well-trained cog, using my knowledge to seek employment in the world of commerce and industry. My ability to see and process the world around me is the reward I have been given for all the time and effort I put into my pursuit of knowledge. Could I have directed my learning in more focused directions and made significantly more money in my lifetime? Probably. Could I have opened my eyes and my mind to the beauty/ugliness, richness/poverty, humanity/monstrous nature of the world around me by keeping my nose in a calculus book throughout my college years? Nah, I don’t think so.

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