The New York Post reports that a graduate of Monroe College in New York City is suing her alma mater for the $70,000 tuition because the school, in her opinion, has failed to secure gainful employment for her. Trina Thompson, 27, of the Bronx in New York City graduated in April 2009 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in information technology. Claiming that the college’s Office of Career Advancement was not helpful with her job search, Thompson is suing for an additional amount of $2,000 for stress caused by her inability to find work. Monroe College has dismissed the accusations in a formal statement which asserts that the Office of Career Advancement provides a variety of services designed to assist students and graduates with employment. Although one can certainly empathize with Thompson and her mother, both of whom apparently find themselves in a perilous financial situation, the lawsuit itself is ridiculous and insulting on a variety of levels.
Such is the state of American higher education in 2009. Populated by too many self-serving students wanting to be catered to more than educated, our colleges and universities are viewed as job training schools rather than institutions designed to elevate the minds of the citizenry. We have done a great disservice to our young people through our abandonment of the ideals of individual responsibility and our lack of respect for the pursuit of knowledge. More people than ever before are enrolled in colleges and universities with the sole intent of securing employment; the objectives of knowledge and scholarship are secondary or nonexistent in their minds. They enter lecture halls and classrooms across the country with the attitude that professors are their servants who must submit to the demands and expectations of the students, as though the student body has something to teach academia about the world. Although Thompson's case should not be used to make generalizations about all college students, she does represent what is becoming a trend in higher education. Unfortunately, people such as Trina Thompson are victims of a society which instills in its children the idea that the world owes them something. A young person raised with more interest in fulfilling the self than knowing how to improve the self is not fit for a university education or employment. Perhaps the idea that each generation in America should be better off than the last has created a society unaccustomed to appreciating the value of hard work and sacrifice.
Too many students enter a college or university degree program with a sense of entitlement that has been engrained in their minds since childhood. The purpose of a liberal arts education is not to provide its graduates with employment, but to create well-rounded individuals who have the knowledge and the foundation for a successful life. The exposure to a variety of courses is intended to open the mind to new ideas, to expand the intellectual capacities of the student, and to produce better citizens in a free society. In the end, whether or not one becomes successful is based upon the graduate’s persistence, hard work, and talent. The idea that a college degree is somehow an automatic pass into the workforce is not only unrealistic, but makes the assumption that society has an obligation to reward college graduates with a well-paying job. A college graduate should walk away from the ivy-covered walls and have a greater knowledge of, and respect for, the country and the world. Entering the world with unrealistic and unreasonable demands will be a very difficult, but necessary lesson for this generation to learn.
Brian Mark Weber is a professor of United States History at American Military University and professor of English at Anne Arundel Community College. He holds an MA degree in Military History, an MA degree in English Literature, and a BA degree in American History and English. Brian welcomes your comments! For more information, you are invited to visit www.brianmarkweber.com.
Comments
As a recent graduate myself, I take offense with the sweeping generalizations you apply to college students today. Certainly many of us are concerned about employment, as should be any citizen without a job! However, in order to complete a four-year degree, it is almost a requirement to have the kind of lofty goals that you are decrying as departed. Ms. Thompson is a special case, more related to the lawsuit-as-paycheck culture than the children-today culture. There will be people like her in every niche, trying to get a free ride at the price of dignity; to apply this characterization to her classmates is an error.
I agree with your assessment of todays college students. I am entering my first year of graduate school and, to be honest, most kids are exactly as you describe them in your article. Many don't care about learning the material, they just want to get the grade and be done, hence why there are cheating scandals at nearly every university across the country. Most people of my generation are very quick to blame everyone else for their shortcomings, rather than take responsibility for their own actions. It is a joke, many of the recent graduates feel they are entitled to a job right after receiving their diploma. With no internships, or legitimate work experience, you will have a hard time finding work. And that is no one's fault except your own.
Jane,
As a relatively recent graduate myself, I think you may have missed the sentence where the author says "Thompson's case should not be used to make generalizations about all college students."
Also, I have to wonder which of the "lofty goals" that the author decried you are referring to as being necessary to graduate? Is it the selfishness, the sense of entitlement, or the lack of concern for self-improvement?
Certainly not all students have those qualities. There are a few good eggs left, but unless you spent all your time in your dorm room, you have to have noticed that there were an aweful lot of Trina Thompson's littering your campus. If not, please let us all know where you went, as I'd love to visit there when I start looking for Grad Schools.
To be honest, I found that my time in college was mostly wasteful as many of the professors did not do their job by teaching the material but rather wasting much of the students' time with personal opinion and political manipulation. Not to necessarily support Trina's lawsuit, but more to sympathize with the fact that colleges and universities have become training ground for getting employment...and that is the truth. That is the way this world has become and whether you like it or not, students are expected to go to college simply to get a degree, simply to get a job. There is no other reason for most kids, but we have to do it. It was the same for me and it is the same for everyone. And the price we pay to go comes with the expectation that it will open more doors for us. I'm with Trina in the sense that I paid quite a bit of time and money only to receive a mostly useless degree that did not prepare me for what was needed to obtain the employment to pay back the debt. Don't blame us
College is a big business. Bottom line.
There is no such thing as knowledge and "ivy covered walls." It's all about how many asses the school can cram into the seats in each classroom/lecture hall. It's like any other quota.
Colleges really should be ashamed of what they've done.
As someone who completed my formal education over a decade ago admittedly I have only recently finished paying off the student loans that I accrued after my years surrounded by those rather expensive ivy-covered walls. I wonder if the author deliberately omitted the final price-tag in his eloquently penned article or if he really hasn't factored that into the equation?
While I don't agree with what I have read in the media about the woman in question the case does highlight some fairly valid questions, "have we all gotten what we paid for?" and "who do you complain to if you haven't?".
The authors statement, "perhaps the idea that each generation in America should be better off than the last has created a society unaccustomed to appreciating the value of hard work and sacrifice" is something I hope he recalls the next time the subject of "student tuitions" and "faculty salary negotiations" are discussed.
The lawsuit will go nowhere of course, I see it more as an attention grab. I do have sympathy for anyone entering the job market now - its really, really tough out there. I was also a mediocre student from an unexceptional college but I was extremely lucky to enter the workforce in the late 90s when the economy was white-hot. I don't think I could have gotten the job I did at any other time.
Since graduation I've read through several of my text books (which I had skimmed/crammed in school) and found them very interesting and informative. I don't know why I wasn't more engaged with it at the time
Gasp! Young people actually want jobs?! College grads are expecting to build some sort of livelihood out of a measly $70k education?! Shame on them and their selfish ways!! (Sarcasm.)
Ah yes, the old 'kids today' discourse. My generation knows it well.
I agree with the author's assessment of Trisha's ridiculous lawsuit, but I don't agree with his generalizations of my generation.
I think it's funny that Weber used this woman as an example of the shortcomings of 'young people.' Trisha Thompson is pushing 30 - she may be closer in age to the author than to the average college kid!
If Trisha (and other recent college grads) were as self-serving as the author implies, she wouldn't be in college trying to better herself to begin with. She would be perfectly happy at home, living off of her struggling mother's dime. Not so.
I too think Trisha's lawsuit is ridiculous, but really Weber: Stop trying to make young people today feel bad for wanting to make something of themselves.
As a college student I can say people are jaded, bored and completely disinterested in material that involves intelligence or integrity. There are truly only a few of us left.
The college should tell Ms. Thompson the price for re-compensation (theft) from their school is the taking back of her degree. She would throw a fit. In fact, if I was an employer this would ruin all chances of her employ. Too risky. Too dependent on others to get her out of a bad situation.
The college system is economically a monster that needs to be re-calculated, that is for sure. But her ability to make judgments and her ability (or lack thereof) to follow those judgments are her responsibility.
This does not surprise me, because getting something for nothing is sadly our way of life. These are our days of oppression. These days will make us stronger and more fit to handle the world, so that we may one day see its stability. And not out of luck, but out of our own doing.
College is a great place to learn about social responsibility and to begin self thought. To say that students treat college as a training ground for future employment is absolutely correct. How many employers will hire someone at a decent wage without a college degree? It's not entirely the student's fault for this cycle that is perpetuated by everyone involved with the educational system. Students are there to learn from their professors, and should be given the attention they deserve. After all, most people pay to go to college. If you pay for something, wouldn't you want expectations met?
Hmmm...A degree in IT from unaccredited diploma mill in IT?
What was she expecting?
MIT computer science enrollment id down because employers can hire dime a dozen foreign grads through H1B visa programs or offshore it a a great discount.
Offshoring is destroying the tech industry here in the US and the school maybe left out that bit of info.
Maybe there needs to be a a little bit more truth telling in the counselors as to what a career in IT is about these days.
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