College: Developing Skills for the Future
Most people who attend college do so for four years or more, during a time in their life when they have the option to enter the workforce. Given that option, why choose to go to college at all? The answer is that there are important skills that college teaches to those who undertake the challenge with humility and the willingness to work hard. The end result, that is, what the person actually gets out of his or her college education, will depend on how dedicated the person is to acquiring particular skills. It makes sense, then, to enter college with a concrete picture of which skills one wishes to attain. While this will vary depending on the individual, some basics come to mind that can apply to anyone attending college. In college gains a fundamental education in a variety of subjects and also a specialized knowledge of one's major field. However, regardless of one's specialization, three main skills college teaches that have broad applications in the outside world are research, writing, and listening.
While research is taught throughout one's pre-college education, research skills are a particular focus of college courses. Research is an often-overlooked skill among those in the workforce; it is something we do on a daily basis, often without realizing it. For example, when we choose one loaf of bread over another at a supermarket, why do we make that decision? It may be made based on price alone. Or perhaps we compare ingredients and find that one loaf of bread is whole wheat and another is white. Based on a news story we saw the other day on the health value of whole grains, we choose the whole wheat bread. Maybe a friend recommended a particular brand of sourdough bread as being delicious, so we buy that brand. In all three cases, we are performing research. Research can take the form of comparison of items based on a value or numerical basis, as in doing a price comparison. It can...