Editorial: The Real World Is Coming

Save for papers, projects, and finals, spring semester is nearly over. And with the end of each semester comes the scary reality of the big, bad, real world.

Institutions of higher liberal arts education provide a safe haven for students. For four years our alma mater grants us the extravagant ability to isolate ourselves from survival in the real world. During this time we are allowed to study what our passions lead us to, without the need to find our niche in society by holding an economically sustainable job.

Unfortunately, it seems that the real world is creeping into our isolated academic community. Not the worldly world, as in the religious sense, but the capitalist economic world. More and more, students are feeling pressure both from within themselves and from outside influences to produce a degree which will in turn pay for itself.

Because of this, students are choosing professional majors. Here these majors tend to be medical and business, but they vary from university to university. While these are certainly legitimate and much needed majors, an unhealthy amount of pressure towards these majors will have major damaging consequences.

College exists not because it is profitable, but because it fills the role in our culture as a place for intellectual inquiry. And while some students are passionate in areas which are profitable, not all are. We should strive to not drive students away from these non-profitable majors.

The rising cost of education seems to be one of the largest forces driving this trend towards profitable degrees. Students can no longer pay off a year of college by working one summer. With debt on our shoulders, it seems necessary to have a way out.

What if college was free? Colleges could be fully supported by their programs and donors. Students would apply, and given their acceptance, they would be granted four years to pursue what they were passionate about - profitable or not. While this may seem extreme, it certainly seems ideal. And while it would mean that not as many students would gain the opportunity for a liberal arts education, it would increase the value of the university in our society - especially the church.