Spring Break
REALITY CHECK: Jack of all trades is king
by David Litvak
Columnists | 8/26/08
Posted online at 1:00 AM EST on 8/26/08
Class of 2012, welcome to Brandeis University. You must surely have worked very hard to make it here, to one of the best schools in the nation, in order to learn and to grow.
Now, if you would kindly pack up and leave, we can begin working on what's really important-job training.
In an article published August 13 in the Wall Street Journal, Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute presented an alternative to the end result of the collegiate experience, the Bachelor of Arts degree. Murray advocates instead for the adoption of a certification program, culminating in an exam not unlike the one taken by students training to be certified public accountants. Murray's proposed program would not require residency, tuition or a degree, only training in the field of choice and the ability to pass a certification test. Murray posits that such a system could be applied to "purely academic disciplines" as readily as it could be applied to other vocations, whether it's a certification for paralegals, social workers, business executives, historians, writers or artists.
In Murray's view, attaining a bachelor's in college is pointless because it is expensive and time-consuming and conveys skills or knowledge that might have little to do with the ultimate occupation of the individual. Most of all, it does not necessarily demonstrate proficiency in the subject for which it is awarded. A certification test, however, would definitively illustrate the aptitude of the student in his particular area of study, thus providing future employers with a standard metric of skill by which to judge prospective job-seekers.
Sounds fine and dandy, but what Murray fails to grasp is that you have not been sent here to become little worker bees in the American hive. You are not here simply to learn a trade and begin contributing to the economy. You, and hundreds of thousands of college students all across the United States, have elected to seek an education not limited to training or certification or any single area of study. The liberal arts education you receive here will not necessarily prepare you for any particular job. What it will do, though, is expand your horizons and teach you how to grow, how to think for yourself and perhaps how to understand.
Now, if you would kindly pack up and leave, we can begin working on what's really important-job training.
In an article published August 13 in the Wall Street Journal, Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute presented an alternative to the end result of the collegiate experience, the Bachelor of Arts degree. Murray advocates instead for the adoption of a certification program, culminating in an exam not unlike the one taken by students training to be certified public accountants. Murray's proposed program would not require residency, tuition or a degree, only training in the field of choice and the ability to pass a certification test. Murray posits that such a system could be applied to "purely academic disciplines" as readily as it could be applied to other vocations, whether it's a certification for paralegals, social workers, business executives, historians, writers or artists.
In Murray's view, attaining a bachelor's in college is pointless because it is expensive and time-consuming and conveys skills or knowledge that might have little to do with the ultimate occupation of the individual. Most of all, it does not necessarily demonstrate proficiency in the subject for which it is awarded. A certification test, however, would definitively illustrate the aptitude of the student in his particular area of study, thus providing future employers with a standard metric of skill by which to judge prospective job-seekers.
Sounds fine and dandy, but what Murray fails to grasp is that you have not been sent here to become little worker bees in the American hive. You are not here simply to learn a trade and begin contributing to the economy. You, and hundreds of thousands of college students all across the United States, have elected to seek an education not limited to training or certification or any single area of study. The liberal arts education you receive here will not necessarily prepare you for any particular job. What it will do, though, is expand your horizons and teach you how to grow, how to think for yourself and perhaps how to understand.
Be the first to comment on this story