The Speech The Graduates Didn't Hear

Has Education Failed Us? Recent research shows that the last fifty years of college education has been a waste. It didn’t provide students with adequate preparation for the real world, so through it all out the window because it was all wrong. An article came across my desk the other day “The Speech The Graduates Didn’t Hear” by Jacob Neusner. It suggests that the last four years of their college career has prepared them for a world which doesn’t exist.

Not allowing them to fail, and providing an easy way out. Giving things they demanded yet didn’t deserve.I felt as if it was education that failed not the students. On several notes the writer admits education was what failed not the students: we created an altogether forgiving world, we didn’t want to be bothered, and we have accepted failures and ok quitters. Neusner went into details and said “which ever slight effort you gave was all that was demanded” (1).

Why should that be enough for a professor who represents an institution that promotes a higher level of learning? Raise the standards if you think they are not high enough. If this forgiving world you have created is not realistic, make it realistic.As a student myself, I’ve experienced the lack of care from professors. However when we break appointments or don’t meet deadlines make exceptions with consequences. Prepare us of what’s to happen in the real world. Doing us a favor that sets us back isn’t really a favor.

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On the other hand, why should we be tolerated or taught things that should be unlearned? According to Carter A Daniel, “we had to do it, for the sake of education” (qtd. in Neusner 2). To an extent I can agree. Still as leaders, I feel they should be held responsible. Why aren’t they being held responsible?In life every action has a reaction. As students if we see the lack of care, or respect from a professor it will reflect in our work and attitude towards them. Professors seem not to care as much because to them it’s the student’s life and choice. The choices we make don’t impact them directly so why should they care. As Neusner stated “quitters are no heroes”, that’s what we are taught in the real world. (1) However in college it’s somehow accepted. Teach me, mold me, show me the right way. How can we learn if we’ve never been taught? How can we know failure if we’ve never really failed?The writer clearly states “With us you could argue about why your errors were not errors, why mediocre work really was excellent, why you could take pride in routine and slipshod presentations” (Neusner 1). Clearly these excuses are being accepted instead of corrected. Professor Carter A Daniel said it best when he wrote “Education has failed you by being easy, free, forgiving, attentive, comfortable, interesting, and unchallenging fun” (qtd. Neusner 2). I say it’s time for the facilities and students to come together and make a change. Do it because we have to. Do it for education.