What is college podcast

The speaker discusses the question of the purpose of college, exploring different perspectives. Some believe it is about getting a degree and a good job, while others emphasize personal growth and experiences. The speaker interviews students and finds varying opinions, with younger students focusing on traditional answers and older students being more realistic. The speaker also mentions the social stigma and job security as reasons for attending college. However, they acknowledge that college may not be for everyone and there are alternatives like gap years and trade schools. The speaker shares their personal experience of learning and meeting new people in college. They conclude that the purpose of college is subjective and depends on individual goals and desires. They believe that college prepares students for the real world. Hello, I'm Christopher Faith, and thank you for listening in again to another episode of Campus Queries. Today's topic we are going to be discussing is the grand question that lots of you listeners have probably asked yourself numerous times, which is, what is the purpose of college? Now at first you probably will answer with the simple answer of, get a degree or get an education. But when you really think about the question, and I mean really think about it, I think the answer is much deeper than that simple answer. As most of you know, I'm currently a freshman at the University of Delaware, and I'm finishing up my second semester here with only a few weeks left. And as I was sitting in my bed in my dorm room, I looked across my room to see my roommate sitting at his desk, as he usually is, looking at some crazy, intricate looking Excel spreadsheet on his double monitor setup. I then walk into my bathroom and then into my connected suite mate's room to see the two eating food, playing music, and playing video games, as they usually are. Then this sparked a thought in my head, of what is the right way to go through college? Now some of you are probably listening right now and saying how my roommate is doing what you should be doing in college, studying and doing his homework for the tens of thousands of dollars classes that he's paying for, which what I say is a good reason. But then there's also the other half, thinking that my suite mates are doing it right, living it up and enjoying their time together, soaking up the last few years of almost what you would call their youth, before they're thrown out into the depressing corporate world, working nine to five everyday jobs in some cubicle, which I would say is also a very valid reason. Now I'm not going to get into the debate of life though right now, we'll save that for another episode. But the point is that my roommate and suite mates are living two drastically different lives at the same exact place. And this really made me wonder, who is in the right? I then started to wonder about myself, and think about the way I live at college, and thought how I'd do it, and if I was doing it right. So as the only logical way I thought I would ever find an answer to this question, I went out to the college campus and asked fellow students of mine their opinions on the matter. And this is what they had to say. To get a degree. Part of college is just growing as a human being and a person, and going through new life experiences. To get a good job and have a good career. To get a piece of paper so you can get employed, and then employers teach you everything that college didn't. Obviously education is a big part, but also one part of college that is not really thought about as much is just growing as a person, you know, meeting new people, experiencing new life things. Their answers were just what I expected them to be, which is that they were all different. Many had drastically different opinions on college, with some even saying that college is almost a con or a scheme to just take your money. Now those people I interviewed were most of my friends who are freshmen, as well as some of my older fraternity brothers that are juniors and seniors. And the answers between the two were very different. The younger people answered with more traditional answers, like getting a degree and getting a job. But the older people's responses were almost more realistic, you can say. With the one interviewer being a senior in my fraternity who is about to graduate and start his job this summer. With him saying that the whole point of college is basically to get a piece of paper that shows you got an education so you can get a job, when really your background in education doesn't even matter, because the employer is just going to show you everything that you have to know to do the job that will require of you. The other senior I asked also had something similar, but maybe less cynical to say. Saying how education is important, but the social aspect is equally as important. And learning the ability to be able to communicate with people and how to socialize. My 25-year-old older brother, who is a chemical engineer at GSK and a Carnegie Mellon graduate, also had similar things to say about college as the seniors. Being that it is just for a piece of paper and that your job will show you almost everything you need to know. So if this is the case and so many people think this, then why do so many people still go to college? I think this is because of several reasons, such as the social stigma or norm surrounding college, the increased job security, and just greater life satisfaction. Many people, and to be honest, maybe even including myself, just go to college because that's what they think they're supposed to do. They've seen their family, siblings, and friends go to college, so they just assume that's what they're supposed to do. And they're going to wind up a big failure if they don't go, when really this is just not the case at all. And this just leads to kids going and paying for college and having to figure out what major they really want to do, which ends up costing them more time and money, or even realizing that maybe they just don't want to go to college at all, when really there are so many alternatives to college, like gap years and trade schools. But most kids don't really assess their options because they just assume that people will judge them and think of them differently if they don't. There's also the legitimate problem of trying to get a job without a degree. Nowadays it seems almost all high-paying good jobs basically are dependent on a college degree of some sort. That is why I think my brother and friends all said it's just for a piece of paper statement. Now I'm not saying I agree or disagree with them, because I honestly just don't know yet. They've gone out and been in and seen the real world and how it truly works, and I haven't. From my personal experience though, I can say I have learned a few things from college so far. My mathematical skills and just intellectual thought have definitely improved in my two quick semesters here at college. But maybe even the greatest thing college has done to me is introduced me to so many new things. The amount of people I've met now and am friends with here that I definitely never would have talked to at my high school is crazy. I now see so many different perspectives on the world and subjects and see the world much differently than my previous narrow view. I even now have a girlfriend for the first time ever in my whole entire life, who lives multiple states away. I've done so many crazy things I couldn't ever imagine I would have ever done, and I think that it has all changed me for the better, and I'm a much more well-rounded person because of it. So when people ask me what I think the purpose of college is, I would say I believe that college is a different experience for everyone, and that you get out of it with whatever you put into it, meaning that if you go into college super focused on school and getting a job, I think you can get exactly that. If your goal is to party it up and have the best four years of your life, I also believe that you can accomplish that. So I guess the real question is not really what the purpose of it is, but rather what you want from college. I would say that what I want out of college is a mix of those two worlds. I want college to be a fun, happy, memorable experience where I had crazy amounts of fun, did some stupid stuff, and just had a great time. I also want it to be a place where I not only learned math and stuff, but where I prepared myself for the real world, because as my one English professor once told me, college is a time in your life when no one really expects anything out of you. So when people ask me what the purpose of college is, I personally believe that the true purpose is to prepare us for the real world. Thank you all so much for listening to another episode of College Queries, and I will be looking for your comments as to what you guys think the purpose of college is. With that being said, have a great rest of the day, and keep wondering.