Did Colin Powell prepare for his role as statesman and diplomat by majoring in political science or international affairs in college? No. He was a geology major. Did Natalie Portman and Kathryn Hepburn prepare for their roles in the theater and on screen by studying theater and acting? Actually, both were psychology majors.
There are other examples: Directors Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra were engineering majors, as were world leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Yasser Arafat. Director Spike Lee majored in communications. Actors Meg Ryan and Gene Hackman were journalism majors.
A poll in Duluth would find similar results. People who majored in communications are running insurance agencies; people who majored in psychology are managing restaurants; and people who studied German are selling real estate.
There's been some recent discussion in the city regarding colleges paying more attention to matching educational preparedness with local employment possibilities. But that concept needs to be broadened and expanded.
A college education affects and develops the person being educated and is not just the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge is certainly part of the picture, but what someone does with knowledge is what really counts.
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The Morrill Act of 1862 -- which established land-grant universities by giving states land, something that was plentiful at the time -- was passed with the idea that universities would provide "scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as ... to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." No one knew during those days of industrial revolution, before the automobile and electricity, just what the future would bring.
What results are possible by getting a college education?
One result would be skepticism; others include an inquiring curiosity and the ability to analyze situations. The new buzzword term for that is "critical thinking," but as an esteemed colleague recently reminded me, "thinking" has long been considered adequate to describe deliberation, decision-making and critical analysis.
Another potential result of education is the ability to see things through a variety of perspectives and from the vantage points of other cultures. Such a skill is useful in a world rapidly becoming global.
Knowing where to find information, knowing how to judge the accuracy of information and knowing how to use information are other possible outcomes.
Writing and presenting are generally part of the college curriculum. So it is possible to take acquired knowledge, analyze it, come to conclusions and then present conclusions and ideas to others in a way that is understandable.
A number of academic programs, including dentistry and other medical fields, lead specifically to job niches. But many academic programs inthe arts and sciences do not and perhaps should not. One problem with specifically preparing students tofill job niches is that they are rapidly changing.
"Opportunities result from the relationships between the population, labor force and the demand for goods and services," the U.S. Department of Labor noted in its 2008 Occupational Outlook Handbook. "Changes in consumer demand, technology and many other factors will contribute to the continually changing employment structure in the U.S. economy."
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Has our world changed much lately? Of course, and there's no reason to think rapid change won't continue. Many of us are not particularly comfortable with that, but most of us realize the reality of the situation. We cannot imagine many of the jobs of the future, but we do know there are some constants, some skills that would help equip tomorrow's citizen-workers with the tools to function in a complex world. Those skills should rightly be the focus of education.
Karen L. Marsh is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
