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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Colleges are not preparing kids for the real world anymore. My DD has discovered that as she's due to graduate in a few months with no marketable skills. She was locked out of any practical class (reserved for those in the major) so was stuck with BS electives. We are encouraging her to take some certification courses (on our dime) to make herself more attractive to employers.[/quote]

I'm curious -- When was this mythical period when colleges "prepar[ed] kids for the real world" with "marketable skills"?  I ask, because thirty-one years ago this month (damn, I'm old), I received a letter addressed to the members of the Class of 1992.  It read, in part:

First of all, undergraduate education -- at least at Harvard, is not designed to prepare you for any specific vocation.  We read a lot today about the competition for jobs and the pressure to get into graduate school.  But I would suggest that you will be making a mistake if you come here with the thought of gaining a degree simply as a passport to a job or a ticket to admission to graduate school.  You have a more important mission.  Society is not lacking in people with the technical skills for professional careers.  What the professions need more are people with a wide background of knowledge, people with good judgment and taste, people with sensitivity for the problems of others and a strong sense of ethical principles.  These are the subtle goals of a liberal arts education and it would be wrong if you were to disregard them in favor of a shortsighted effort to use these college years to get a head start on your professional training.

It was signed by Derek C. Bok, President of Harvard University.

The letter was accompanied by a memorandum that read, in part:

One of the reasons to pursue a liberal education is to become a larger person, broader in intellectual experience, deeper in empathy, stronger in belief.

It was signed by Henry C. Moses, Dean of Freshmen of Harvard College.

Yes, yes.  I'm certain you'll [b]poo-poo[/b] all that.  Harvard-Schmarvard, you'll say.  Go ahead.  However, if you do so, I'll simply dismiss you as the disingenuous person I assume you to be.  You may even snipe, "Ho, ho, you kept a silly letter for more than three decades," despite the knowledge that this objection in no way addresses the question at hand.  So, again, I'm curious -- When was this mythical period of college as a glorified vocational school?  Be specific.[/quote]

😂ok, hahvahd [/quote]

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