What Good Is a College Education?
by Johann N. Neem
In the fall term, I often teach an introductory, general education course called 鈥淕oing to College in America.鈥 Although grounded in my discipline鈥攈istory鈥攖he assigned readings draw from economics, philosophy, sociology, and other fields. My goal is to allow students, often in their first term in college, to reflect on why they鈥檙e in college and what they want out of their four years on campus. Students have been told again and again鈥攂y parents, by teachers and counselors, by political and business leaders鈥攖hat they must go to college. And my students have followed that advice. They have done what they鈥檝e been asked to do. They are here. But they don鈥檛 know why.
I teach at a regional public comprehensive university, the workhorse of public four-year education. My students come from diverse backgrounds. Many are first generation. They鈥檝e been told that a college degree is essential to succeed in today鈥檚 workforce. Their goal is to get a degree, often in a major that is directly tied to a job. And yet they find themselves spending the bulk of their first two years taking general education courses in subjects like history, political science, geology, and biology. I hear them complain. I hear them wonder why they need humanities or science if they don鈥檛 intend to do anything with them.
My goal in the class is not to brainwash my students into agreeing with me. I teach readings that I disagree with, and I do my best to help students understand authors鈥 arguments on the authors鈥 terms. I also make sure to assign readings that contradict each other. But both through the readings and by modeling intellectual curiosity in the classroom, I want my students to see that there are purposes to their education that are not just instrumental. I want them to at least be aware that there are internal goods to a college education if they choose to pursue them. I want to open them up to the idea that a good college education can matter on its own terms, and not just for the piece of paper at the end or the job that you get.