Why go to university?

Pure learning

Some people are just interested in certain things and want to learn about them, and university seems a likely place to do that. Opinions about this particular function of university are mixed. Parents, students, and even administrators and faculty are divided on the subject. Some think this is the only good reason to run a university, and that any other purpose is a dilution of this goal. Others think this is an outdated idea and one that doesn't have much place in modern education.

Some parents I've met would love nothing more than to discover their son or daughter is passionate about the study of English, philosophy, or something similar. Others would almost faint over the idea, followed immediately by a sort of an accusatory question, “What kind of job are you going to get with that?!” I suspect you already have some ideas of your own on this subject.

When someone tells you they are studying something because they're interested in it, does that strike you as a good reason, or do you tend to think it's frivolous?

There probably aren't many undergraduate students in university today who are only interested in learning for its own sake. It would be nice to think there were more, but let's face it, the percentage of people who do anything in this world only because they love it is pretty small. Still, these aren't intended to be exclusive categories of motivation, and I would suggest there are more people motivated by love of learning than is frequently assumed.

If you've ever studied something or taken a course even partly because it looked interesting, then you were motivated by a desire to learn. You don't need to be idealistic to make this choice because common sense backs it up. You'll always be better at things you find interesting, so you should take advantage of that whenever possible.

What are you interested in, curious about, or motivated to learn? If you don't have any immediate answers that's okay, but consider that you are at a bit of a disadvantage at any institution of higher learning if you have no particular interest in learning. There are other ways to get motivated, but interest is a big one. And if an opportunity arises to take something that interests you and somehow turn it into a career, don't write off that option lightly -- it's an opportunity too few people have.

<b><FONT class='texteColor2'>Career training</b></font>
When universities offer undergraduate programs called “management,” or “pharmacology,” or “early teacher training,” it's hard to escape the awareness that universities have bought into the business of career preparation in a big way. As always, there are extreme opinions on either side. Some alarmists see this as the end of “real” education entirely, while others seem to think education is all about meeting the needs of industry and the job market.

The truth is doubtless somewhere in between, as it usually is. There's a need for certain kinds of vocational training, and for better or for worse, that's going on at university these days. But is that why you are there? Some people will say that university is about getting a good job, and I'm sure you are aware of the way your prospects will be improved by your degree. But do you actually know which job you want, or do you just know which income bracket?

If you've got a job at least mostly in mind, if you know what kind of skills you want and what kind of field you see yourself in, then you are probably looking for a career out of university. If you are just trying to avoid flipping burgers and taking the bus to work, well, that's a reason too, but you don't have a career in mind. You're just thinking about a lifestyle. If you know what you want to do with your life, that's great. University takes a lot of time, and a lot of effort, and it's awfully hard to get through it with much success if you don't know why. I hope your career goals have at least something to do with your skills and interests, because it's easy to get seduced by lifestyle, and even when you are aiming for a specific profession your ideas of it may be totally divorced from the reality of the work.
Medicine and law are major culprits here.

Maybe you've also been influenced by your parents' ideas of what they'd like to tell their friends about you. We all know, quite honestly, those are bad reasons to get into a field, but if you've got a career in mind, that's a concrete goal, and a reason to be in university. And that's more than many students have. If you care about it enough to stay motivated, you're ahead of the game.

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<img src="http://old.canadianliving.com/upload/CanadianLiving/pool/univc79771.gif" align=left>Excerpted from What's Wrong With University: And How to Make it Work for You Anyway, by Jeff Rybak.  Copyright 2007 by Jeff Rybak. All rights reserved. Published by ECW Press.