What Did You Expect?
Education is dead. Long live job training.
Since higher education in the United States has shifted to essentially being job training rather than an intellectual and personal formation process, schools have more and more touted their ability to get their graduates jobs after they complete their program of study. I have no problem with a college or university having ties with the business community that allow them to provide pointers to their students looking for jobs.
But it should hardly be surprising then, that students begin to expect their university to get them a job after graduation. And, should the school fail in this arena, it's hardly surprising that students might begin to take exception to this, to the point of suing their alma mater for dereliction of duty. I can somewhat empathize with the student's frustrations, even while I believe their course of action is ultimately improper.
Monroe College has a very extensive career advancement section to their web site. They even advertise a Platinum Club - "an invitation only organization to provide selected students with career planning privileges". Sounds like an advertisement for a platinum Visa card - and I doubt that's accidental. The Career Advancement section of their home page boasts 14 links underneath it - more links than any of the other information areas in the same area, such as Academics or Financial Aid. Clearly, advancing student careers is a prominent aspect of this school's appeal to prospective students.
We need to make up our minds as to what the purpose of higher education is. Is it a formational process that will appeal to certain people but not everyone, or is it an expectation for anyone who hopes to get a job more satisfying that assembling Big Macs? If it's going to be considered a job-entry sort of venture, then students are not to be faulted for holding schools accountable for helping them to get placed after graduation.
Since higher education in the United States has shifted to essentially being job training rather than an intellectual and personal formation process, schools have more and more touted their ability to get their graduates jobs after they complete their program of study. I have no problem with a college or university having ties with the business community that allow them to provide pointers to their students looking for jobs.
But it should hardly be surprising then, that students begin to expect their university to get them a job after graduation. And, should the school fail in this arena, it's hardly surprising that students might begin to take exception to this, to the point of suing their alma mater for dereliction of duty. I can somewhat empathize with the student's frustrations, even while I believe their course of action is ultimately improper.
Monroe College has a very extensive career advancement section to their web site. They even advertise a Platinum Club - "an invitation only organization to provide selected students with career planning privileges". Sounds like an advertisement for a platinum Visa card - and I doubt that's accidental. The Career Advancement section of their home page boasts 14 links underneath it - more links than any of the other information areas in the same area, such as Academics or Financial Aid. Clearly, advancing student careers is a prominent aspect of this school's appeal to prospective students.
We need to make up our minds as to what the purpose of higher education is. Is it a formational process that will appeal to certain people but not everyone, or is it an expectation for anyone who hopes to get a job more satisfying that assembling Big Macs? If it's going to be considered a job-entry sort of venture, then students are not to be faulted for holding schools accountable for helping them to get placed after graduation.
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