The Commencement Speech You Will Never Hear by Jacob Neusner, Essay Example

The primary aim of college education is to set the path of the students towards embracing the gist of real living. The preparation that education is supposed to give to the learners defines the actual scenarios that they are actually to find common in their own chosen fields of career. However, even though the motivational mission of schools and other learning institutions is clear and understandable, only a few academic institutions are actually able to respond to the same aspect of providing what the students need in relation to the preparation they require to face the realities of living. In the written speech by Jacob Neusner, he points out how the current aspects of development in the field of education seem to have produced mediocre procedures to prepare students in facing the actual challenges of real life especially in relation to the careers and professions that the learners are being honed to achieve. In the discussion that follows, how his speech and the definition of education that he implies represent reality shall be further identified.

What is education for and why are students enrolled in schools and other academic institutions? The basic reason of going to school is of course to learn. However, when it comes to college education, the primary aim is to be trained and prepared for real life. Learning is different from training. In a way, learning simply involves the capacity of a person to be well indulged into the basic systems of reading, writing, counting and the critical point of assessing such basic skills. On the other end, training is more on the application of what has been learned. Dealing with the basic realities of life, training prepares a person towards facing the new challenges of life as a new phase is being embraced by an individual. In college education, such aspect of learning is essential as this particular stage of learning is considered to be final and this should be effective enough to reflect reality as it happens in the world that the students are about to enter after graduation. It is only through this approach that the students become fully equipped in facing the challenges in a real scope; this is the most effective form of assistance that academic institutions could provide their students with.

At present though, this condition of learning is not happening in most schools. It has been realized through time that academic institutions are faced with the dilemma of viewing their students as “clients”, as “customers” who ought to be served. This very point of the situation is already an alteration of the actual condition of matters in the real world. For instance, in the real world, these students would have to deal with the attitude of their bosses; they would have to face the fury of their superiors whether or not such conditions are rightful. In school, the students are the boss. The teachers merely exist to guide them. The thought of the teachers being paid because of the service they are able to provide for the students often present a conflicting form of interest that basically pushes the teachers to be the ones to adjust to the needs of the students. As a result to this, the lines of Neusner’s writing regarding the adjustment of deadlines, the acceptance of mediocre projects and so on are becoming a true mirror of what real academic institutions are like at present.  Teachers are forced to accept late projects and mediocre presentations just to be able to pass their students even though at times these individuals do not deserve such recognition. Teachers begin to lose the position of implying their authoritative power towards the learners. Being directed to adjust to the needs of the students to assure that they learn their lessons properly and they are able to get the gist of each particular subject presented to them, teachers have no choice but to follow direction. College administrators often find it hard to retain teachers who are extremely strict with the schedules and on the quality of activity completions that the students get. This is especially true when such type of instructors begin to affect the number of enrollees in the school. Although it might have been an effective approach to be strict on the matters mentioned, the profit-directed mission of the school often suffers when this happens thus demanding for change and adjustment on the part of the teachers’ way of teaching.

As a result to the changing face of college education, the production of competent students have lowered down. The quality of employees who are to take on the new age working opportunities lose touch of what is noted as working ethics and proper employment attitude. Instead of being prepared for ridicule and challenge at work, most college graduates today expect that they would be given attention to by their employers. Most of the time, even at the point of application, these students hope that they would be immediately recognized by their future bosses hence be given proper consideration as they enter the working areas. Likely, this attitude spurred out from being given too much leeway when they were still studying. It is not impossible that these students became more self-praising, expecting more from the people surrounding them to recognize their being, whether or not they deserve it. Instead of finding ways to please the needs and demands of their employers, they expect things to happen the other way around. The “me-first” attitude of the students clearly defines the current condition of working characteristic that modern employees have. Causing a commotion in the work place, students who have been trained to be pleased rather than to please flood the field of modern working industries today.

True, the problem over the condition of work attitude that employees have at present could be tracked down to the roots of the problem. Likely, such problem comes from the quality of school training that students receive from the academic institutions that they were enrolled in. College education and the curriculum offered along with it is supposed to be designed to equip students with both theoretical and practical knowledge. Giving the students a taste of what is real and making them realize that in the real world, they have to put forth a surmountable amount of effort is what makes a college education worthy of being applauded. However, in the current situation that the academic institutions are under, such situation becomes rather uncanny. Schools and universities are often torn between two particular desires, one is to gain profit and the other is to provide good instructional service that would put their students up front for good and outstanding employment. Nothing good comes from too much tolerance. The need of the academic institutions to be fully responsive to the needs and demands of their students often makes it harder for the administrators to focus on the quality of training that they provide their learners with. Notably, this is the reason why students become the drivers of the education that they receive from the academic institutions instead of the instructors becoming the directors of the process. The adjustment of the perception of the society towards the role of universities ought to be changed from being a ‘cradle of knowledge’ to becoming a source of effective and practical training; and when training is mentioned, the development of proper work attitude among the students should not be set aside. Only through this would the production of competent workers be achieved properly.