We've all been raised in society to go to school, get the good grades and get a good job; you've done that. You have the grades, you worked your ass off and now you're thinking, "great, now what?"
I want to share with you my experience. While attending school full time, I was always busy working or running a business. One major thing I learned, which urged me to create this post, was that my experience from business ("real world") and my school experience were far from the same, even though school is "supposed" to prepare us for the "real world".
Here are 5 reasons why you might be feeling ill prepared for life outside of your post-secondary bubble. Whether you went to university or college in Canada, I'm sure most of you can relate,
1. Isn't school just short term learning?
A lot of the times we are cramming for those last minute exams and assignments just to get that A or B so we can get through that part of the course and repeat the process again for the next big assignment. Or maybe this isn't you, maybe you study a week or two before the test, which is optimal learning, but here's the problem. This is only learned knowledge, not practical.
Think back when you got your driver's license, you got your G1 by reading a book: did you really know how to drive a car after? Most likely not.
This is the problem with the learning that schools set us up for. We spend thousands of dollars on these great textbooks (usually only read half of it) and we've learned the theory of how to be successful in that course. This is very short term learning; sitting in a classroom and writing a test, the model works great. But when you go out into the workforce, you don't have the luxury of only reading a book, you have to just do it.
Let me give you a statistics:
Based on the curve of forgetting, you only retain 30% or less of the new information no more than a week later, with no reviewing. This is why you feel like you haven't learned much after graduation, because this new knowledge hasn't embedded itself into your subconscious. Even though you paid $10 000-$40 000, cost 3 years of your life and you earned your graduation certificate.
How much have you learned from your school?
Do you feel prepared for the next steps in your career?
2. School is a great business don't you think?
Whether you like to think so or not, a school is a private institution that has profits and losses, aka a business (probably one of the most genius ones). Every day when you walked down the halls you were exposed to advertising, food, bookstores, all of which are businesses trying to make a living.
Why is this wrong you ask?
Let me rephrase this question another way, if you were the owner of such and such college or university, would you want more or less students graduating?
This is just an interesting perspective to ponder from your $10 000 education and how they use it to make money, not necessarily to help you succeed in the world outside of school. They do what makes them look good and profit. Which is another reason to consider why you're learning isn't at it's peak.
3. 5 courses? 6??!! Isn't this too much information all at once?
How many of you at one time or another felt overwhelmed with the work load or stressed out?
Let's not all jump at once, but I know almost all of us have. There is an information overload in schools. It is mandatory to take 5-6 courses per year if you want to graduate in the least amount of time possible. Yes you can take fewer courses, which is probably recommended, but nobody tells you that it's okay to do so. Not to mention having to pay another years worth of tuition if you take the less work load and slower route. This amounts to another $5000-$10000.
They say, this information overload will prepare you for the real world and help you get that job...Yes..but no. This information overload isn't the same as a new job. In a job, you are focused on many different tasks related to one specific job. Schools pile you high with 6 different courses and new concepts and learning that drown you with knowledge. Which is why it is understandable you remember very little of your schooling years. Just when you feel like you've just got your neck above water, they throw down a dozen more concrete bricks for you to catch, oh by the way, don't drown. This method of learning is old fashioned and although it is obviously a path, it is not a successful path that anyone should bare to take.
4. How does a schools marking system measure success?
"The teacher was horrible I just had to drop that class" or "my teacher loved me, I definitely can't fail now". Teachers today are a dime a dozen, but finding GOOD teachers are tough. It is very subjective when you take a class and how they grade. Also it is very dependent on the student and how they learn. Teaching bright minded students eager to learn is truly a difficult task. I realize this is all upheld by the education systems and they have curriculum's to follow- that's the problem.
When you go for that job or run a business your success is measured through your results in performance, hard work and profits. Contrasting that to school, your success is measured through numbers and words on a piece of paper; hard work right? Of course it was hard work studying for that test, or completing that 20 page essay. But my point is, is your time and resources being spent in the right areas? We are all bright individuals capable of anything we set out to be, but spending day in and out of the classroom, listening, watching, and writing is only one side of the learning you should be receiving. There are many programs like trades schools, that do this very well, but not frequent enough. You need practical hands on learning immediately after you have learned a new concept. Until you have mastered that you shouldn't be allowed to move on to the next concept.
This grading system of A, B's or 75% etc, is great but as a student that's all you look at. Is this assignment worth marks? What's on the test? See, we are all focused on the end results of the test and not the learning. It is because of this flawed measuring system of success that we are incapable of successfully managing ourselves outside of school environment.
5. You chose to go to school right?
Well you chose university or college right? You didn't have to go and get the post secondary education. So why did you?
We all have our different reasons, but the bottom line is to get that job or business in doing something you like.
Unfortunately, in today's economy it is almost the minimum standard to have your diploma to get a half decent job (If it is a job you are seeking).
Even after all of those hard long years of university or college it is still hard to find a job. Now, you are not only in a similar situation you were before you went to school (career wise), but you have a lot more friends, more networks, new practical learning (hopefully), thousands of dollars in debt, 3 years older and are still working that minimum wage job.
Just to be clear, educating yourself and continually learning is the best thing you can do for yourself and others throughout your lifetime. I just want to point out that the school system isn't the greatest learning institution for optimal learning and is the reason why you probably aren't succeeding as much as you originally thought after your graduation. But schools serve their purpose in society quite well; house the masses before they enter the workforce.
Stop Settling, Start Living.
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