College is supposed to be hard — is that all there is to it?
Illustration by Liv Weatherford
Arielle Andrews, Contributing Writer
Over half of all college graduates work in a field outside of their degree with many working in jobs that do not require a degree at all, according to research from Bloomberg and the Pew Research Center. This implies that the majority of these graduates’ job skills develop on the job.
On top of that, with the onset of the internet, learning has never been easier and more accessible. You can learn pretty much anything for free.
So what is the point of college?
Adding to the degree bias present in recruiters and companies, higher education professionals and millionaire university presidents like to harp on the “challenging” aspects of college. It is a place where you push yourself towards success and develop intellectually.
To succeed in college is a challenge. So when you do, it is perceived as a major accomplishment.
This is why so many companies will hire a college graduate versus someone with a high school diploma, even if they have the same amount of experience. This is also why graduates make more money overall.
In other words, college is hard — and that is the point.
College is just supposed to be difficult enough to get you a job. I want to know if there can be more to college than strenuous labor.
With 25% of freshmen dropping out their first year and over 58% of college-aged adults opting out of university, it is clear college has an optics issue. Watch any university president spout nonsense about academic challenges while downplaying the hundreds of thousands of dollars you have to shell out for glorified Wikipedia knowledge and you will understand why.
University marketing often relies on touting experiences you would not get anywhere else — access to professional networks, knowledge and the challenging and intellectually stimulating nature of higher academia.
These are all well and good, and I am not complaining, but I propose an alternative angle to university.
College’s best feature, its most pivotal aspect, is “fun.”
No, please save your eye rolls. I am serious. Make college fun.
Not only does research show that when learning is fun, students are more likely to remember and engage with difficult concepts and material, but the main benefit of college should be its period of self-discovery. Which is fun.
College gives you almost unlimited access to various opinions and activities. Through this, you learn to cultivate your own personal identity. Many higher education professionals will mention this when talking about benefits, but I argue they should lean into it.
Instead of being a place of rigid rules and academic success, college should see itself as more of a very long summer camp.
Students come to stretch their ideas and imaginations, learn new things, network with people and organizations and most importantly, have fun. At what point in your life can you do nothing but figure yourself out?
In the capitalist hellscape we live in, everything is focused on how we can make money, keep money and increase our productivity so we can make more money. When the center of university life is how hard it is, the point is not to push us as human beings, not really. The point is to make us more marketable for the slaughterhouse that is the labor market.
Its entire goal is to transform us into hard workers, high achievers and dedicated laborers willing to give our all to capitalism.
This is not the future I envision for newly formed individuals entering adulthood.
Instead, a place where your focus is on self-discovery and amplifying fun is not only beneficial but necessary to counteract the constant bombardment against our humanity.
Imagine a place where the point is not to be hard so you can get a job and retire when you die, the point is to take guided steps toward actualization. Something most people will never achieve.
Of course, you can and should learn beneficial work skills and maybe you will stick to that career path. But if you do not, it was not a waste of time, or money, because the point was to engage yourself.
College is so concerned with being “hard,” that it forgets to be meaningful. Getting and keeping a job should not cost a hundred grand, four years of your life, and a tiny bit of your sanity.
The future of college should be to challenge their students in a different way. A way that actually makes an impact in their lives. So boost fun.
81% of college graduates wish college taught them more life skills. What better way to enrich your students than to teach them how to live with themselves.
