What I didn’t learn in college

Ask yourself the following: Did higher learning stress test you for what’s to come post-graduation?

How much you learned in college/university is applicable to your present (and previous) job(s)?

[Was there a connection between the college you graduated from and where you are now? I suspect after the first few years post-graduation, what counts is experience and accomplishments. Let’s leave passion for another day.]

Did college teach you how to think for, say, disruption or innovation, which will save you and/or your company?

Did college tell you the difference between “job” and “career”?

Is passing (and partying) your way to graduation enough? Where does networking and grades fit into the formula?

Is college emphasis oriented towards “producing” employees, business-person and/or entrepreneurs?

Today, from your job, could your (appropriate) professor(s) answer questions you are exposed to and expected to answer?

Did college put you in debt that your (first or second) job’s income cannot service without compromising your (meagre, for now) “quality” of life?

Today, college graduates face even more pressure as a combination of outsourcing and “robots”, shorter cycle on deliverables, a line 5-10 people deep that are vying for your job, etc. It is as if you are on “probation” beyond the probationary period.

Did college prepare you for the real world of surprise quizzes, snap tests, undermining employees, escape-goating, and unreasonable bosses?

Did you internship prepare you for what’s to come?

College prep

College did not prepare me on what’s “next”. But, let us be fair, when I graduated it was a different time, but the pressures were the same: adjustment. At the time, most colleges did not have international campuses, and the orientation was only global in classes, courses and student body. Encouraging studying abroad was the exception and not the golden rule, and there are financial considerations also.

But, hindsight is always “20-20”, so you learn from it and pass on some of the high level lessons in raising your child. Generally, if you think about it, up until age of 22, child-student-young adult lives in a “controlled” environment of order and routine with slight deviations, but today’s world is more about pivoting in (possibly) a social media moment. As this is the know world they know, they logically extrapolate on what’s to come. That's when the disconnect takes place.

So, you, as a parent need to embark on today (when child is in the formative years) on what’s to come for junior or the princess in college and post college work-life balance. And, there is an increasing number of news stories about “adult-children” moving back in with their parents, as the security of the nest eggs gives them a piece of mind (and avoids the anxiety medications).

No, we were not one of those “crazy” parents that robbed our kids of their childhood by focusing on only accomplishments, being first or best, be it school or sports. My gut tells that’s more of a vicarious issue of the helicoptering parent wanting glory that (their) talent could not deliver. The focus was always on effort, and not end result as effort established a discipline, and the rewards would eventually come.

Sports and hobbies

Team sports and hobbies have a more profound impact on “what’s to come” than reading about it in a textbook or case study.

Sports over continuous after-school studying/courses: we found team sports, like little league baseball, or a hobby to be a better enabler for understanding and appreciating social and inter-personal skills and “manning” out of tough situations, especially losing. The social media has neither made people social nor developed/honed verbal skills, two important paragons to adjusting and climbing all ladders.

It seems there is some unwritten bragging rights rule to how many FB (virtual and not actual) friends, followers on Twitter or Instagram or connections on LinkedIn. The bragging rights era may be the equivalent of being a legend in one’s own mind, but not sure what the top prize is in this era that also includes jealousy.

The hobbies, say, fashion designing for my daughter was a great outlet for connecting with and sticking with a hobby that is becoming a passion, and it could become her career. You find your growth not by some linear education equation, but losing yourself in the realm of possibilities. The important point is not to push towards a career that makes your village proud, but how you can contribute to the diversification of your village.

Travel

The importance of travel, be it family vacations, summer camps, back-packing through, say, Europe, cannot be emphasized enough as it goes to learning about a oneself: resiliency and confidence. Unfortunately, we did not travel much growing up or when I started my family. But, work had taken me to more than 35countries in last 20 years, and as I have told my children about Tajikistan, South Arica, Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Pakistan, France, Canada, Grenada, etc., it opened their mind to the fact the New York was not the epicentre of the world.

My son, after finishing his freshman year at New York University, is doing a semester abroad, Prague. He has travelled, via buses and low budget airlines, with his mates to Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Milan, Rome, Budapest, Venice, Barcelona, Monaco, Turin, etc., at the age of 18. Obviously, as a parent, you are always concerned for child’s safety, but the travel has exposed him to so many people, culture, foods (he has halal-only diet), languages, and probably dangers that he won’t tell us, and this is so much better than a semester of dedicated courses on travel. The confidence he is showing is so far ahead compared to when I or his grandfather were his age.

This is the same of level confidence that inspires some young people to establish and run a million dollar company even before they can drive.

A combination of internships, team sports, hobbies, and travel will better prepare and navigate college graduates on ‘what’s next on their compass.’ I wish I was mandatory encouraged to such activities, as I may not have gotten to my destinations faster, but with more confidence.

 It's a tough and crowded world out there for these millennials, and education alone is no longer the ultimate safety net for neither jobs nor careers. You have to have a self-input for a better self-output.

What did college not teach you? – November 12, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.