The Clock has recently learned that some teachers have decided to leave PSC because the college is not fostering an environment for learning. It is the opinion of some that teaching at Plymouth, along with the majority of educational institutions, has gone out the window. With the removal of true teaching, the belief is that training has replaced education. Training? Yes-training for a life outside of college, where knowledge is a distant second to basic skills. The broad coverage of a general education provides us with an important overview of subjects necessary for education, but even the most defined undergraduate degree won’t suit us with the wisdom one might expect to gain after leaving college.
We acknowledge that this new trend in education is occurring. However, we do not believe that it is the fault of the college, or education as an industry. The fault, if it can even be called that, lies more with society and the employers of the free world. Education has made a change because the demands of the work force have changed. While many of us were preparing for college, it was a common understanding that attending a four-year college will suffice for landing us a cushy job with a paycheck that would undoubtedly make your less scholastic colleagues cringe with jealousy.
Those promises didn’t last as long as our white collar dreams, leaving a new breed of Bachelor-degree-hugging products of the industry searching for jobs that don’t require paper hats. A baccalaureate education has become the lowest common denominator of those entering the work force. Finding a job in a specific field requires greater proof your educational trials with the much-desired Master’s degree or the honor of honors-the Ph.D. or doctorate. It is only these specialized degrees that ensure the success each college student longs for. The Bachelor degree has become the secondary choice, leaving most graduates turning over their tassel and heading toward schools of higher, higher learning.
So where, in this mass of complaints, is the solution? Perhaps the answer lies in a more defined, educationally superior undergraduate program where people are taught and not trained, so we enter the employment world with a specialty; something we have learned that places us ahead in the game. Or maybe society needs to adjust and accept that a Bachelor’s degree makes us worthy of, and sometimes even more qualified for, the jobs reserved for those further in debt from educational loans. Whatever the solution, we need to reach a point where four years in college will take a person beyond living off of tips.