401(O)K

Go look at this: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.collegeguide.html. The actual rankings are around there somewhere.

Basically the magazine ranked the colleges based on what they felt the colleges gave back to the world in terms of research and socially mobile young people ready to tackle the world's issues. I'm not 100% sure how you even measure something like that, but they did.

The only real point of citing it here is it got me thinking about whether or not college does a good job of preparing you to be an upstanding member of society. Is that even their job? Let's assume for the sake of this idea, that it is. I would say that college does a lot to help people get ready to function, but it could do better. And in some ways, it might even reinforce bad "real life" habits, or get kids headed down the wrong path.

Just to clarify, I think college is a good place for young people in general. I do think it could improve on spitting out well-rounded folks armed with the tools they need. Remember, we're basing this on the assumption that this is a function of college. So confusing.

But here's the idea: make a "life skills" class part of the general ed curriculum. I don't know exactly what it would cover. Investment opportunities for young people, ways to volunteer, how to read a newspaper, how to wrap gifts, etc.

Now, I'm not completely sold on this. But I took a "business math" class in high school that taught things like how to balance a check book and the like. I think it was a class for people who struggled with math so they could fulfill that requirement and graduate, but you know what? I learned a lot. Just for the record, I was perfectly proficient at math. I actually took this class as an elective. But I really did learn some practical things. I don't know if I'll ever understand why more practical subjects aren't taught in schools. I think the college idea would just be that on an even more advanced level.

Man, this is getting out of control. It's got complicated and basically comes down to what you see as the role of college. Of school in general. Teach you how to learn? Get you ready for life? Hand you a diploma?

I don't know. But teach those college freshman some more life skills. Get 'em ready. That's all I'm saying.