Graduation, Degree in Hand, Was it Worth it?

Graduation Day is here.  You may now move your tassels.

Now what?

For the University graduate that question is even more acute.  More likely than not, there is a debt to pay.  Finding a job is a priority, to say the least.  In the face of thousands of dollars of Student Loan Debt, perhaps both parents and students are asking, “Was it worth it?”

If one earned a degree in math, chemistry, or biology, along with its accompanying knowledge and skills, which can easily be applied in today’s science labs, high-tech companies, or medical research departments, perhaps so.  But what about degrees in English Lit, History, Philosophy, Theology, Art, Music, and/or the Social Sciences, are they worth the cost?

Well now, it all depends, doesn’t it?  What is a good University education supposed to give you?  Is it all about preparing for corporate cubicles and corner offices, a kind of pre-enlistment for company payrolls?  For some, it is.

But it’s a sad world if that’s all a University education is about.  Now more than ever, we need deep wise penetrating thinkers, not just corporate money changers and business calculators.  Musicians, artists, philosophers, theologians, literary types, and social workers do have value, if for nothing else than to analyze and critique our corporate finance “money is everything” culture.  Studies in The Humanities give us a bigger picture regarding our place and activity in this world.  Life is not just about business or even about the latest scientific discovery or technological development.  It is also about meaning and truth, faith, hope, and love, honor, respect, and justice.  We are human BEINGS not just human doings.  Though we must learn to do, we must also learn to BE.  A college education that only teaches how to read a financial spread sheet and write an office memo has greatly missed the mark.

Learning to think, being introduced to the wisdom of the ages, becoming familiar with history’s greatest thinkers is the beginning of a good education.  A solid University education will encourage students to ask and to seek answers to life’s greatest questions, e.g., who are we, why are we, what is truth, the meaning of death, what is the foundation of justice and what are the limits of personal freedoms.  Learning to learn and to do so wisely so that one might realize that one’s assumptions may not always be as reasonable or logical or as sensible and coherent as one initially presumed.  Opening one’s eyes to a larger world, becoming less provincial, this is a sign of having had a good University education.  Becoming more articulate and well read, developing personal confidence in one’s convictions and beliefs coupled with humility and the respect for the thoughts and ideas, and varying concepts and traditions of others, is a sign of having received a good University education.  To know enough to avoid being myopic or ethnocentric, or sophomoric, or mercenary, is evidence of having had a good University education.

Yes, a good University education can indeed be well worth it, of much greater value than merely preparing one for the job market.  But of course, whether you actually receive a good University education depends on which University you choose to attend.  Choose wisely.  For today’s graduates, I trust you will fully appreciate your education’s value over the years.  For future graduates, make the best of your college years and take delight in learning.  It will never fail you.