I remember one night watching a video where some of the greatest businessmen of our time like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban spoke on how college, really education in general, simply sucks. Their reasoning? The current education system does not actually train individuals for the demanding tasks ahead that society requires of future generations. Why is this the case though? Well there are a few reasons...
First, tests and lectures are not an accurate representation for what the work environment will ultimately be like and real-world problems that need to be solved such as figuring out national debt as a politician or even business executive in relation to a corporation. The lack of hands-on learning or training is a serious issue, especially during a time when children's minds are at the highest peak of their learning potential from elementary to middle school. Education is simply not engaging enough and this gives the false perception that learning is boring and not the great opportunity that it should be viewed as. According to recent studies, there are plenty of job openings but not enough skilled workers to fill those positions which is reflective of an ineffective education system. We are training our students to take notes and multiple choice tests, not the real-world.
Second, classes are not relevant nor focused on individual student interests. Before college, students are required to take electives alongside their required classes which are fine in the beginning in terms of exploring personal interests and passions. However, the limited scope of these electives proves detrimental to the purpose of their existence in the first place which is essentially to help students realize what they want to do later in their professional lives. And although this issue is somewhat resolved in college where the options for electives are seemingly endless, there is still restraint in the form of requirements that allow little to no flexibility in terms of classes until really junior and senior year. This is simply too long of a time to wait to really focus on what one wants to do and frankly too late, especially if a student realizes that after some further digging, they decide they do not truly want to continue pursuing the career path they wanted to pursue. This is one of the main reasons the term "Super Senior" is applying for more and more students who are staying at school longer than four years due to a sense of feeling lost while pressured by adulthood.
Lastly, we are preparing kids for college, not the real world. As a student myself, I was shocked to find that in my university there were classes focused on preparing students for college. Really? In addition, the concept of a campus and a town encompassing it creates a false sense of reality in which the world will always hold your hand through challenges and provides a sense of security that cultivates dependence. This dependence is a growing trend around the world that takes the form of children staying with parents longer and a workforce that is not ready to make the hard decisions necessary to keep businesses and the economy running effectively and efficiently. The root of the problem is too many people view getting accepted into one of the top colleges in the nation is the endpoint and then afterwards, everything will be taken care of. Although this used to be true before, this is not the case anymore and in a increasingly demanding global work environment, traditional education is becoming more obsolete by the day and needs a reboot to the 21st century.
