I’ve been trying to figure out how to write this blog post for quite some time now.  I think I finally know how to best share these thoughts.

Having spent 2.5 years at the University of Iowa and now 1.5 years at Drake University I have had the opportunity to see many different perspectives on education from both a public & private school.  Here is what I’ve found is wrong with our education system and what’s forced it to be this way.

• Textbooks:  That’s right, textbooks have ruined the way we are taught.  I look at like this.  Universities and schools everywhere have been using textbooks for centuries.  Those that are “experts” in their field write down what they know, usually copying formats and theories of past textbooks, and then selling them for an obscenely high price.  What’s wrong with this?  Things have changed in the last few centuries.  We are in the information age.  I can go and find all of the information in any of my textbooks online for free and it isn’t that hard to do so.  Textbooks are a crux for the teachers/professors and students.  It holds us back because few of Gen X and most of Gen Y don’t learn this way.
• The PhD Professor:  There is nothing wrong with a professor who has gone to school to earn a Doctorates degree.  That said, there is everything wrong that Universities employ individuals with these higher degrees yet NO experience in the real world.  This is ridiculous, especially in the business school setting.  One thing I loved about the University of Iowa is that all of my entrepreneurship professors were not in fact professors.  They were retired individuals both young and old who have found great success in the business world and want to share that with the rest of us.
• Regurgitation versus Applications: When I sit back and think of all the bubble sheets I’ve filled over the last four years I think of all the time I’ve wasted cramming the night before memorizing definitions and theory concepts verbatim.  I, myself, test well.  I do well on multiple choice because often, I can deduce the correct answer.  If you asked me the question without multiple options there is no way I would ever get the answer right.  Why am I paying tuition so a teacher can only test me and my classmates on how well we regurgitate information.
• Babysitting: Seriously.  We are in college.  We do not need our hands held to guide us through to our careers.  Drake University is notorious (in my mind) for doing this.  I was a Senior at U of Iowa and transferred to Drake.  This added a semester on before I could graduate, which is okay because I was going to finish a semester early at U or Iowa.  I have been forced to take a couple entry level courses.  In these courses they tell me what I’m supposed to do to find internships, network, and prepare for my career.  Great, right?  No.  In these classes they also require me to read these stupid books that teach me nothing.  They make me go to internship fairs, career fairs, etc.  If you aren’t doing these things they are on you because in their eyes, you can’t fail.  It’s not bad to care about your students but it is ultimately the choice of the student to be successful and you can’t shove that down their throats.

These are the things I think have ruined our system, aside from the government subsidizing stupidity and artificially driving the costs of education higher; but that’s a post for another day.

Here are the things we need to change if we want this to turn around:

• Experiential Learning: Universities nation wide should have clinics in all of their schools.  Especially in a business school.  Clinics provide students the opportunity to network, build mentoring relationships, get real world experience, and earn credit at the same time.  Close the textbooks.  It will save your students money and they will learn more.
• Pull Away from Academics: This is really focused on business schools but I’m sure it applies to any degree at the University level.  Go ahead and hire individuals with higher degrees, but require real world experience.  So it may hurt your rankings because you aren’t hiring the top PhD from Harvard that’s never had a real job.  So what!  It’s about the students, not your rankings.  Bring the community into the classroom.
• Let Us Fail if We Want to Fail: Don’t waste your time babying individuals.  Even if you help them graduate and do well in college, how does this prepare them for the real world.  If I hired someone that needed this babying I would fire them in an instant, no questions asked.  Work with students, but don’t try and hold their hands.
• Test on Application: Few business people can repeat definitions.  Why should student have to?  It’s not about memorizing and regurgitating.  It’s about learning concepts and knowing how to apply them.  Essay tests and individual/group projects do this.  Don’t give us T/F, multiple choice, or matching tests.  This is stupid.  Test us on what we’ve learned.

Until these changes are universally made in the US our education system will continue to suffer and the quality of our graduating students will be decreasing at significant rates.  Some of these changes are difficult to make.  If you have questions let us know because we know steps need to be taken.  If you have a student in your home or if you are a student, demand these things from your/their professors.  Until this happens I doubt any change will be made.