What does the CS major learn? What does an undergraduate student learn? If education is about cramming facts, formulas, and languages (linguistic or programming) into students' heads, then perhaps most of education has got it right. But, in reality, is all the calculus or science we learn here going to help most of us in the business world? Or, better yet- how many of us really grow from our education?
In high school I romanticized the idea of going to college. I've always been the sort of student that favored intellectually stimulating classes as a form of challenge, and enjoyed pursuing that challenge. While the list is short, what I loved about the classes that are most memorable to me, is that I walked away a new person: I was transformed by the educational process. Walking away with a physics formula, or memorizing the exact stages of photosynthesis is useless except when it comes to tests. It is that sort of intellectual challenge upon which education should be based. I thought college might be that environment.
The hardest lesson I learned in college so far was that I was wrong. In this world, those who win at the education game can do so without ever opening their minds. I think education is about something more. So what if you can identify the page of a spot quote on a test, or spit our a physics formula you memorized the night (or hour) before? It is without a doubt that I believe, based on the course load and my discussions with students at other universities, that Stevens presents the hardest challenging program I have come upon to date. But what are students here really learning in the often 20+ class-hour weeks? And what of the college experience?
Many student groups, leaders, and editorials right here in The Stute have complained about student apathy. In terms of The Stute alone, it's pretty easy to see our staff isn't as grand as it once was, and our readership probably isn't what it could be. Recently, the SGA has only two nominations for President, and they came a week after the deadline had passed. But why is that? Why are students so unwilling to participate in their school?
Many students are unwilling to participate because they are busy competing to have their net education be quantified as highly as possible - to raise this little number called the GPA. Honestly, the GPA is not going to mean anything after any of us are in industry. Its hard to argue: what industry success is based on performance. I cannot imagine someone asking my parents for their GPA in college at their next job interview.
And, if most students are so apathetic they cannot learn to write (say- become a reporter), or so scared of human interaction they do not peek out their rooms, how are they going to perform in the real world? In probably the one class I can say changed the way I think, the one class were I learned, the professor told us, "You think life is going to be different outside of Stevens? That you'll be less busy? I've got news for you..." These words have echoed in my head since last semester. Sure, we are living on a college campus now, going to 20 hours of class, spending another 20 outside of it studying, but isn't an average work week 40-hours? And, many of us are going to pursue the top paying jobs in america. How many hours does one have to put in for salaries the hundred-thousand dollar range?
To me, the problem is with the direction of education. Maybe I was one of the few people that was "tricked" by the marketing terms Stevens used to me- but I thought Stevens might be that sort of place. The campus has active sports teams, such a large number of fraternities for its size, and uses buzz words like technogenesis (which spell-cheker still underlines in red). The idea of forming marketable enterprises from abstract student ideas is really amazingly novel to me-- to encourage students to think "outside the box," and to help them patent and market their concepts. The only problem is- very few people actually are exposed to this concept.
In reality, most classes cram facts and typical structured, almost standardized AP-style information at us. Students have to remember they are paying forty thousand dollars a year, and doing so for a "quality education" and a degree- which should open doors to the market place, and open our minds. I cannot say I am thrilled with the education style of Stevens, and I cannot say I am alone. As a student, we have the power to change our school- ultimately we fund the budget. Without students, there would be no professors. Why aren't students more involved in auditing their school- in directing the goals and plans of the University? Perhaps because education teaches them not to. Since grammar school, education teaches students to stay in line, to follow the rules, to avoid a demerit.
Prestigious institutions, Ivy League schools, don't have the kind of class-hours we do- and arguably, those degrees are worth more. College and education is about more than class-hours and facts. Learning far transcends the classroom.
