“If You Can’t Drive, Ride Shotgun: A Student Guide to Survival” by Tyrone Behari Jnr

In order to complete driver’s education, students must not only learn the traffic code to pass a written theory exam, but in addition, they have to display practical driving proficiency and exhibit proof of their skills to pass a road test.  In order to prepare for this, in-car driving lessons are taken where the student is either driving, or in the front passenger seat (shotgun) observing the instructor drive.  One place a student is never situated is in a backseat of the car.

Typically, people would say that they are endeavoring to “learn how to drive,” as opposed to phrasing it perhaps more simply as trying to “get a driver’s license.”  Where the education industry is concerned, it would appear that things are quite the contrary—“students educate themselves in pursuit of a degree instead of in the pursuit of learning” (Parker par. 2).  Different to an aspiring driver, a student is likely to say that they are going to “get a degree,” as opposed to “learn how to be a [insert desired profession here].”  Herein, we discover the problem where career training within the education industry is concerned: there is a backseat, passenger culture. 

It has become increasingly common for students to simply recycle, regurgitate and reproduce information that they are given in class onto assignments and exams simply to meet a pass grade and obtain their bachelor’s degree.  The professor drives the metaphorical car (teaching the class), while students stay in the backseat and simply wait to arrive at the end of the journey (course).  There is little to no chance for the student to show gumption; they assume the role of a nodding dog car accessory.  As students, it makes little sense to simply go from A to B.  “You do not play a sonata in order to reach the final chord, and if the meanings of things were simply in ends, composers would write nothing but finales” (Watts).  Good musicians ought to understand the journey of the music; otherwise, they will never truly appreciate or fully comprehend the beauty of the final sound.  Likewise, an ideal student should not simply try to pass exams and make good papers.  They should go through a myriad of other benefitting experiences along the way, such as further reading and group discussion, which help shape submitted work even if not directly referenced.  With every assignment, there is great insight to be grasped along the way.  Students should dread being like receptacles, having a brain filled to capacity yet not possessing genuine understanding (Freire). 

Typically, the professor is put upon a figurative pedestal, where the classroom is their court, and they are the judge and jury.  They adopt the role of the Big Chief, while also being lucky enough to simultaneously hold the position of Dean of Discipline (Gordon).  The paternalism that ran colonialism, runs the classroom (Freire).  Once within such an environment, the easiest option is to submit.  Herein, the student is fully immersed within the “edu-cage-tion machine” (Brookes); trapped, sentenced until the end of the semester.  Correction---the subsequent semesters will only have difference chiefs---the student is sentenced until graduation. 

Where grading is concerned, the bell curve system of which most professors follow, immediately limits students, shackles and all.  Why is the system so intent on having the majority of students tacitly labelled “average,” simply one of the crowd, hovering between a B and C- grade? Why can’t there be more than, say, five A grades in a class?  Surely, such an environment would be indispensable and much more beneficial at large.  Just picture classmates universally working with one another as they know that they can all receive an A if it is deserved.  Collaboration would be encouraged, and that only pays dividends due to the fact that an individual’s horizons are broadened when working with peers.  One’s empathy would be encouraged, which can only be a good thing due to the strength that possessing people skills and moral development holds within education. 

In Roksa and Arum’s “Life After College,” a study found that students who had substantial levels of peer-to-peer interaction while at college adjusted into vocational life with greater ease (Roksa and Arum).  It is said that 80-85% of career success is dependent on social (soft) skills, while only 15-20% is dependent on technical (hard) skills.  Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development shows that there is a strong relationship between moral development and level of education (Kohlberg).  It would appear that the education industry as a whole currently falls within a pre-conventional morality (namely due to self-interest orientation).  According to Kohlberg, this stage should be outgrown during childhood!  With an empathetic, peer-orientated style of learning, students would rise from a pre-conventional morality, leapfrog a conventional morality, and achieve the most advanced stage of development under a post-conventional morality: universal ethics orientation.  Under this mindset, students would take a different approach to intelligent input from peers.  The competitive, “I don’t understand, so I must be stupid” mentality would be put aside for a self-enlightening echo of “I feel smart, as I had to stretch myself to comprehend” (Shah).

Under the professor-concentrated style of learning, the student is in the backseat.  A peer orientated style of learning brings the student into shotgun.  Feedback learning encourages the student to be an agent of change.  As humans, we should embrace this.  96% of our DNA is shared with chimpanzees; the difference is less than that between mice and rats (“Chimps, Humans 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds”).  One of the principal characteristics that sets us apart as a more intelligent species is our opposable thumbs, the attribute ability of the precision grip.  We were made to be adaptable.

The adaptable nature of humans should be naturally complimented by college.  The word education is derived from mid-16^th century Latin and the word educāre: to train or to mold.  By definition of its origin, education should be exercising and developing students’ minds.  A good example of this taking place is in the class I write this very essay for.  Our professor, Paul Kirpal Gordon, emphasized from the very first day that we need to develop ourselves within the KP Trident (as a thinker, reader, and writer).  However, throughout the industry this is not always the case.  “So what is the solution?” I hear you ask.  My answer is work—occupational experience, namely internships and work-study programs.   

Occupational experiences are a gateway to endless opportunities.  Schools should actively encourage and help students to seek out opportunities, or even go as far as making sure that all students acquire work experience within their desired field by the time they graduate.  At the workplace, students get the opportunity to meet people living the life they wish to live (Gordon), as well as having the chance to apply their developed skills to the “real world.”  Similar to the peer-to-peer relationship at college, relationships with extremely valuable dialogue can be developed in the professional world.  Mentorship is the ultimate career training from the front seat (Goodman).  One college that is particularly following my suggested modus operandi is the University of Chicago.  The Jeff Metcalf Internship Program provides a $4,000 grant for a 10 week period, if an employer cannot afford to hire interns at the local minimum wage (“When Internships Don’t Pay, Some Colleges Will”).  Clearly, this school sees the value that I do when it comes to occupational experiences.    

We must be mindful how we go about changes to the education industry.  “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” (Karr).  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Especially in the current political climate, radical desires will not be attended to.  They will ultimately not affect reality.  As with most matters, we need a progressive approach to help adjust the status quo.  For now, on the individual level, students should be proactive.  If you can’t drive, ride shotgun…just please do not get into the backseat.

Works Cited

Arum, Richard, and Roksa, Josipa. “Life after College: The Challenging Transitions of the Academically Adrift Cohort.” Change Magazine, June 19, 2012

Brookes, Samantha. “Rusted Gears: My Triumph over the American Education Factory.” Taking Giant Steps, June 29, 2016. http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2016/06/rusted-gears-my-triumph-over  american.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30^th Anniversary edition, Bloomsbury Academic, 2000

Goodman, Hannah. “Career Development for Undergraduates: A Genius-Bar Idea”. Taking Giant Steps, January 15, 2017.        http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2017/01/career    development-for undergraduates.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Gordon, Paul Kirpal. WSC 001 class discussion. Hofstra, October 26, 2017.

Hartocollis, Anemona. “When Internships Don’t Pay, Some Colleges Will”. The New York Times. Nov 2, 2017.

Karr, Jean-Baptiste A. Les Guêpes.  Journal, January 1949.

Kohlberg, Lawrence. Lawrence Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development. 2012.

Lovgren, Stefan. “Chimps, Humands 96 Percent the Same, Gene Study Finds”. National   Geographic News. August 31, 2005.

Parker, Morgan. Do Not Pass Graduation, Do Not Collect $200,000 Degree. 2015.

Shah, Ria. “Has the University Stolen the Fire in Our Bellies?” Taking Giant Steps, October 27, 2015. http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2015/10/has-university-stolen-fire-in our.html. Accessed November 11, 2017.

Watts, Alan W. The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety. Vintage Books,  2011

Career Development for Undergraduates: A Genius-Bar Idea by Hannah Goodman

To many, the sole purpose of coming to college is to get an education with the intent of applying those skills in the real world. For some, entering post-secondary education is an opportunity to explore many different opportunities and fields that they may pursue in the future, while others, like myself, begin college knowing exactly what they plan to achieve. An issue that often presents itself is the lack of real-world experience and internship opportunities for certain fields of study. After talking to many professors and trusted adults, I declared myself as a double major in Criminology and Psychology with the hopes of being provided the best pathway toward a career with the FBI. Even so, Hofstra does not offer any internships with the Bureau, let alone anything similar in nature. It is not just an issue that is present at Hofstra, but at universities all over.   

           

While there are many goals to accomplish in college, some are much more beneficial than others. In the short time that I have been at Hofstra, I have noticed a significant lack of internship opportunities to gain real world experience. Although the Lawrence Herbert School of Communications, along with those students on the pre-med track, are given abundant options to gain hands-on experience as part of their college experience, it seems to me that they are among the only ones. It is of utmost importance that students are fully exposed to the realities of the career that they have dedicated their time and money to for the next four years. Without the chance to go into the field and learn first-hand how life will be following the pursuit of their major, students will be more vulnerable to the harsh truths of the world once it is far too late to shift gears in a timely and effective manner. As a result of unrealistic assumptions, students frequently become entrapped in a field that they no longer wish to pursue post-graduation. After going through the entire college experience, it is not likely that these students would have the motivation---or financial ability---to start from scratch in a new field of study. 

Another issue that may arise for students wishing to pursue a field with few directly related educational opportunities is information presented in an ineffective way. As explained by Paulo Freire in “The Banking Concept of Education,” “It turns them [the students] into ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teachers” (Freire, Par. 4). This statement directly correlates with the main ideas elaborated on throughout the entire piece, expressing the detrimental effects of many current teaching methods. Freire explains that many instructors simply deposit information in the students, shoving it down their throats and expecting regurgitation come test time.  By doing so, it has been found that the content is not actually learned, for when the student “vomits” the materials up on test day, the knowledge leaves the student as well. The classroom, in many scenarios, has become a monarchy in which the instructor’s knowledge overpowers the thoughts of everyone else, regardless of their quality. Instead of being talked at, it has been shown to be much more effective to be talked to in such a way that true conversation occurs.  Freire cites the importance of inventing and reinventing one’s beliefs, along with expressing one’s freedom, which I believe to be strongly contradictory with the banking concept of education. Without the freedom to express one’s own views and to have true dialogue, the margin for self-improvement and growth shrinks significantly.

In Roksa and Arum’s “Life After College,” they report that in 2010, college graduates faced an unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, the highest rate on record, and just one of the many challenges faced by young people.  When evaluating the 925 graduates who were a part of their study of how effectively college graduates transition into adult life, they found that academic engagement and growth during college was a significant factor in the future success of the young graduates. In addition to studying students’ academic engagement, the researchers used the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), which evaluates complex reasoning, critical thinking, and writing skills. Ultimately, the study revealed that those students who exhibited substantial levels of intellectual commitment, active participation, and progression throughout their time in college were those who adjusted into the real world in a much steadier fashion (Roksa and Arum, Par. 11).

These results further support the idea that the education system most commonly used is not necessarily the best option. Due to the organization of class materials and how they are taught, it has become significantly harder to comprehend the information being fed to the pupils.  Although it may seem effective at a first glance, it is a shorthand effect that is masked by incorrectly portrayed test scores. While this has become a much more significant problem in schools all over, there are many approaches to fix this overlooked dilemma that the current, and future, generations of students are burdened by. To help prevent this group of aspiring young adults from wasting precious resources, colleges and universities could provide greater opportunities to ensure that the students’ presumed interest and dedication to a field aligns with the reality of that field. With such opportunities, students would be able to change course well before it is too late to begin the entire process again. There is a simple solution that could be presented for students interested in gaining first-hand knowledge, regardless of their field of study. I think of it as a “genius bar” of mentors: a central, online portal where all interested students can go to browse, make connections with alumni and other professionals in related fields, and expand horizons in order to gain experience and greater understanding in a hands-on fashion.

Yes, while there are already internship programs here at Hofstra, they are not all equal. For example, the communications and pre-med programs are known to provide an abundance of real-world opportunities for students who display interest. I spoke with a sophomore, Harvin Singh, who has some personal insight on the pre-med side of Hofstra’s internship opportunities. After graduating high school at the age of 17 in his home of India, Harvin attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, followed by two semesters at Fordham University, before finding himself here at Hofstra. Harvin, who has already achieved so much at the ripe age of 21, told me that he believes Hofstra offers loads of opportunities for students on a pre-med track.  “They have really good placement events every two months” (Singh). During his sophomore year after transferring to Hofstra, Harvin was offered two separate internships with Northwell Health System, both of which he now regrets turning down.  On the other end of the spectrum, there are students at Hofstra, myself included, who have been desperately looking for internships and other opportunities to gain field experience that seemingly do not exist for our fields of interest.

If my proposal was brought to fruition, it would not rely on school administration to deal with students seeking these outside internships; instead, the mentors who would be choosing to take interns under their wing. With this genius bar of mentors and professionals in the New York City region and beyond (think alumni in far-flung areas) who are willing to further expand the knowledge and experience of dedicated young individuals, many doors would be opened to an endless array of options.  In the genius bar, one would be able to search the database by using tags related to the field of pursuit. 

So, for instance, if I were utilizing the genius bar to find a mentor, and my goal was to become an FBI Special Agent, I would look for tags of FBI, Law, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice, Cyber Security, National Security, and Fraud, among others.  This way, it would be easy to sort through different people and options without being overwhelmed by useless information.  Mentors would not necessarily need to be in close proximity to the school due to the ability to communicate via video chats and social networking sites.  A mentor and student could be in contact with one another throughout the course of the school year and then work together in the field of choice over the summer. With such a program, students could explore the actuality of the job they plan to pursue, while still having the option of changing their minds before they no longer have any reasonable choices left. Students would no longer have to concern themselves that their expectations may actually be misconceptions if they have the ability to find out the answers on their own.  Additionally, the university could set up regular opportunities for students and professors or alumni to connect outside of the classroom through round table discussions and auditing of classes. 

It is so important for students to learn in a positive environment where they feel comfortable expressing their opinions and are able to gain solid insight into their future if they take a particular path. Through real interactions and experiential learning, rather than simply hearing lectures from the front of a hall, students’ capacity to absorb material increases greatly, widening their margin for future success. There is also much value in making and sustaining outside connections, for they can be used down the road when looking for guidance, references, and employment. Another aspect of the genius bar would be exposure to listings of other opportunities that may not seem directly correlated with one’s interests, but could have a positive effect. For example, the genius bar could also offer connections with non-profit organizations, volunteer opportunities, groups that work with underserved children and families, and other indirect ways to gain exposure to the field of interest.

With greater opportunities for hands-on learning, students will be able to experience real-world situations in order to decide whether that field is or is not for them. By doing so while still in college, changing one’s mind does not necessarily have to put a damper on the student's education. The mentoring genius bar and lists of organizations that correspond with certain areas of study will be a great way to expose students to opportunities they may not have thought of, or have been able to attain otherwise. Hopefully, with the creation of this database, the issue of graduating college and transitioning into the real world only to discover your dislike toward your field will significantly decrease, creating a more effective education system for all those who are interested.

Works Cited

Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa. "Life after College: The Challenging Transitions of the Academically Adrift Cohort." Change Magazine. Taylor & Francis Group, n.d. Web.

Freire, Paulo. “The Banking Concept of Education” Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 

Singh, Harvin. Conversation. 12/13/16