Reader Responses to Is Careerism Ruining College?

Reading the BAM article on careerism in college was a lesson in how much things can change  and how much they stay the same. I got to Brown in 1969, the year Ira Magaziner’s Open Curriculum took effect. At that time I was an applied math major. I had done well in high school calculus and the math AP test and got thrown into the deep end. But the class was taught by a grad student whose English language skills made him unable to explain things. Second semester was an American grad student, but equally inarticulate. And there were no classes in computer science or programming—the actual skills that would have helped me get a good job. I guess that would have been cheating. So I jumped into the Open Curriculum full force—courses in Eastern philosophy, in film, art history, comedy and laughter. Several of the classes were eye opening, mostly because of the professor. A slim majority of classes were literature and I graduated a lit major with no job skills in anything. After graduation, I floated for years in one low level job or another. Eventually, I fell into marketing writing and then website product management and I did well. But in hindsight, Brown’s lit department was of no discernible value to me. They had me doing a bit of writing in class, but it was academic writing, and I never got any feedback from teachers even in that marginal skill. So when I hear BAM’s simplistic defenses of the liberal arts education, it’s a bit disappointing. The article mentions that Steve Jobs took a class in calligraphy at Reed. And that was useful for him—because he had real world skills in technology, marketing and usability. Your article claims that the liberal arts teach critical thinking. But just reading books and writing papers doesn’t mean someone magically becomes a deep critical thinker. The missing step is developing real world skills: learning how to tackle problems, to work with others on projects, and to take one’s writing and communication to a deeper level. As a lit major, I should have been required to take a few nonfiction writing classes, classes with effective teachers at the very least. I should have had a few classes that required solving problems. That’s what a well-lived life requires. But what do I know? 

I suggest that Brown and other Ivy League schools turn inward to their own admissions process. Is Brown attracting students highly focused on careerism? Is the process self-fulfilling? I would think the admissions office could significantly alter the composition of the student body if it so chooses. Students (and their families) are “taught” at an early age to focus on grades, to participate in extracurricular activities that look good on their applications, to study hard to attain outstanding test scores. They barely have time in high school, never mind in college, to develop a meaningful philosophy of life. Many students reach out to me as a Brown Connect alum and ask me what the best path out of Brown would be to secure the very best jobs?  I often ask them to step back, somewhat to their surprise, to assess what it is they want to do, what brings them joy, to consider an unconventional path. My advice to them: Life is full of surprises; let it unfold in all its sparkling glory

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