After having my truck die recently and being unable to start it with jumper cables alone, I realized that I was left completely immobilized by my ignorance of automobile mechanics. I stood there in the parking lot, coated in a fine layer of snow, like a mentally disinclined yeti waiting for the AAA technician to come to my rescue.
This simple event ignited me to ponder the question of whether or not academia truly prepares us for the real world and teaches us to be effectively independent. I am not suggesting that everyone should have the depth of understanding or dexterity of a NASCAR pit crew member ‘ but we should at least have some general knowledge of the subject for our own benefit.
It is an important skill for nearly everyone to know, and yet it is one that is only taught in specialized technical schools and not in general universities. Yes, we learn all sorts of fanciful things, like the molecular structure of hydrogen bonded with boron; we learn how to construct an entertaining and well-written essay with MLA citation and proper headings; we even learn how to find the derivative of a tangent ‘ but are any of these things necessarily practical life skills?
Henry Brooks Adams once said, ‘Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.’ This seems to be an assertion of substance. Too great an emphasis is placed on abstract knowledge, and not enough is devoted to practical skills. It is very easy for a ‘clever’ individual to regurgitate information without truly grasping the material and skills that our education is meant to teach us. Education should impart upon us information pertinent to living, not just passing a course.
Take for instance filing income taxes, a tedious activity in which every college student will eventually have to partake, and yet I would wager practically no one in our generation truly knows the first thing about doing it.
Not convinced? How about properly compiling a resume that demonstrates your aptitude in the most optimal manner? I am sure some individuals are reading this and saying, ‘Pshhh, I can do those things,’ and I applaud you for that, you’re truly a remarkable human being, but recognize that you are the exception and not the rule. You didn’t wake up one day and say, ‘I think I can consolidate my annual interest rates.’ You most likely had the fortune of being taught by a family member or acquaintance.
This problem is binary. On the one hand, there is general apathy and a willingness to allow others specialized in the field of problem to take care of our life’s dilemmas. On the other, higher institutions perpetuate this indifference by endowing us with a lexicon of information of which we will only actually utilize a small percentage in our lives.
Students across America are becoming more clever every day, but none the wiser or better equipped to tackle life’s curveballs and setbacks. If tae kwon do can be deemed a legitimate course, so too should a class designed to teach students practical life skills.