I Just Needed You to Know

Although I’ve written about this multiple times, I’ve been doing some heavy thinking lately. I figured I might as well get some of my thoughts on paper, so to speak.

With bleak job prospects for recent grads, spending fortunes on an undergraduate education seems less like a way out and more like a way to get into some serious debt. What are undergraduate programs doing to prepare their students for the “real world”? Many seem to just be pushing their students towards a higher degree because a bachelor’s degree simply doesn’t hold much stock in today’s world. For my personal program, I almost feel that the program should be separated from undergraduate & graduate education altogether and considered its own professional program. While general education courses are supposedly good tools to produce “well-rounded” individuals, I personally feel that they are a complete waste of time. Since most students take the same general education courses, professors have to downgrade information to the very basics. Nearly every general education course I’ve taken was a dumbed-down version of my high school (even middle school!) courses. Perhaps I came from a high school where more was expected of students. Regardless, pointless classes that might have the potential to give students a wealth of knowledge but fall far short of that goal are simply a waste of time and money. I honestly feel that half of my  undergraduate career was spent “learning” useless “skills” that really won’t help me in my professional life or as an enlightened individual. I’m not devaluing a well-rounded education; that education should simply fulfill what it was set out to do. Courses emphasizing critical thinking, discussion, and scientific processes certainly have their merits. But when a basic biology course gets downgraded to the content of a seventh grade classroom, is there a point?

Skills. We’re supposed to come out of college with not only a piece of paper declaring our competence in a particular discipline, but also a set of skills that can be generalized throughout our personal and professional lives. From my experience at a state university, these skills are few and far between when it comes to non-major related courses. And while career resources are located on campus, they are not integrated with the basic curricula. Perhaps these higher-order skills (e.g., critical thinking) should be combined with something more practical, such as interview skills. Maybe universities, instead of requiring “good citizen” courses, should focus on imparting valuable information that will give their students an edge on the job market. Learn how to effectively write a resumé, how to make professional connections, and how to look good for a job interview. Professional Skills could be its own course. Of course, this, like gen eds, has the potential to fail in the hands of incompetent instructors.

I don’t have any statistics here, but it seems that many jobs are found through connections and networking. Family members, friends, student organizations, and other groups all connect students with job opportunities. Unfortunately, the typical “good student” immersed in academia doesn’t always have these connections to the real world. Granted, some of these students will want to remain in academia, where they feel comfortable. But others have career goals beyond academia, but have few tools to reach out. Social skills and networking are skills that can be taught as much as any other skill. People who have connections get jobs. It’s as simple as that. But when you don’t have connections, what are your options?

Human capacities are incredible. Somehow our bodies can relay a tremendous amount of information to our brains, which then separate the incoming stimuli into what’s important and what doesn’t need attention. We focus on certain things at certain times, then let stimuli fade into the background when we move our attention elsewhere.

Tick. Tick. Tick. There’s hardly a tock. But the new clock in my room kept me up all night with its incessant noise. However, now that I’m attempting to DO something, the ticking fades into the background. I can only hear it when I really listen for it. Instead, I hear the voices of my new roommates, music thudding in the room next to me, and the noise of my own fingers hitting the keys of my laptop.

I came back to Lexington on Thursday of last week and have been acclimating back to apartment life since then. The pool is certainly a nice addition, and I have time to relax and catch up on reading. No work, no school, no worries. Okay, that’s a lie. I can always find something to stress about, whether real or imagined. I’ve been trying to relax more and let life come at its own pace, but it’s a daily struggle with my own worries.

I finally quit my job, which is a relief. Obviously, I’ll undertake new stress once I start the hunt for a new one, but that old one needed to go. No other major life changes so far. Next week I have orientation for my program in communication sciences & disorders, so maybe something will come from that. Apparently I have to be completely vaccinated (although, I will have no patient contact any time soon. The only CD class I’m taking is Anatomy & Physiology of Speech & Hearing), as well as get a background check. I’m not sure what that’s all about, but whatever. Just another fee added on to the college expense. Sigh.

And now silence reigns in the apartment. Tick. Tick. Tick. And the click of the keys. I don’t know whether to relax and take advantage of the quiet or simply waste more time in front of this screen. But for now, my thoughts run dry, so I’ll leave the typing for another day.

Jaded. Such an interesting word. Until just now, I had never looked up its meaning. It always held a cynical air to me, like a world-weary old friend. I’m afraid that’s what I’m becoming. I’m turning into this skeptic, a disbeliever in all things sacred and pure. The world has lost its color; now it merely blends into all shades of gray. Innocence has gone missing.

But still, there’s some lingering magic in the word. Jaded. Reminiscent of a jewel. It has a little bit of class to it, as if the jaded individual is somehow more knowledgeable and more experienced than the average person. But who wants to be jaded? Who wants to be tired and cynical, wandering through a life deprived of pleasure?

My boyfriend leaves for California tomorrow, where he’ll be staying for three months. Needless to say, I’m not terribly thrilled to be left festering in the Bluegrass State. I’m incredibly happy for him, and he definitely deserves it. I just wish the same opportunities were open for me, too. (Yes, I know I’m turning green.)

So here I am, back at home for the summer, trying to find a second job to supplement the meager wages from the job I’ve worked at for nearly four excruciating years. I’ve heard much about people losing their jobs or getting reprimanded over opinions voiced via internet, so I’m not naming any names or anything here. All I’m saying is that I wish I’d get paid more than $0.18 over minimum wage after 3.5 years of work where I actually do more than stare blankly at the floor wasting time.

I need to pick up a hobby, fast. I doubt I’ll be able to find a second job when I need so much vacation time off and can only work for the summer. So more than likely, I’ll be bored when I’m not at work. Blogging is a bit of a hobby, but really not enough to keep me entertained. Perhaps I’ll really get into photography, or start exercising like I’ve always meant to.

I miss the old day, when summer meant freedom and no worries. When summer meant swimming pools, tank tops, and bare feet. Now all summer means is boredom, loneliness, and exhaustion.