Why do we go college/university???

We all have just graduated from high school and now we are in college. Have you all ever wonder why we need higher education? Can't we just stop studying in elementary school or high school or even not getting education at all?

I read an article several days ago and I found the answer. In the article, a lecturer was asking his students "Why are you all in college?" That seems like an easy enough question to answer. A few students raised their hands instantly.

"So that we can get a decent job one day and make lots of money!" said the first student.
The lecturer then smiled and replied, "Come on, we all know that many people who never went to college and they are rich beyond imagination."
Later on the second student answered, " to get an education."
"You don't necessarily have to go to college to get education." the lecturer said. "Many people get their education through the school of hard knocks."
Another student said, "To get a degree. You can't get that unless you go to university."
To that the lecturer responded,"That is not true. You can take correspondence courses." At that point everybody seemed stumped so the lecturer finally said, "The main reason you all go to college is to learn how to socialise."

The lecturer proceeded to elaborate. When you graduate and enter the work force, you will be surrounded by genrally like-minded people with roughly the same educational background and social status. For example, if you are in banking the people around you would have probably studied finance. If you are in the medical field, the people you mingle with will be fellow doctors and nurses. If you are in architecture your network or friends and associates will inevitably be those in the building and construction industry. Unless you happen to have a unique job that requires you to mingle with a broad range of people, the harsh reality is that your world will be constrained by your career choices. Therefore college is the only time in your life when you are exposed to all kinds of people from all walks of life and from all different backgrounds. The lecturer told the students, "The whole idea of a college or university is for different people to get together and interact."

If you don't learn how to deal with a myriad of people and expose yourself to different worldviews when you are in the spring time of you life - when you are young and carefree, how will you ever be able to do so when you enter the real world and have to cope with the challenges and insecurities? As mentioned earlier, your world will naturally constrained by the career track that you choose. However if you have had exposure to diversity earlier on, you would have a better chance of broadening your network beyond what would normally be the case because you learned how to do so at a younger age.

In our college there are so many students who are local, from other states and even from other countries. We have to communicate with them as everyone is from different places and backgrounds. Of course we have to manage our time properly and know who are the right ones to mix with too. In a nutshell, a certificate showing that we are a college or university graduate can't fight the experience of socialising and networking we gain in college and university.

~ Fiona Lim ~