College life is not similar from one generation to the next, the similarities and differences made more prominent depending on what school did and do you attend to. I am in that position to see the context of the two having attended and finished college degrees in two time frames. One as an Accountancy student in mid seventies and the latter as a Nursing student in 2002-2005. Absolutely, the learning process I gained from these two time generations would make me realize the great opportunity to be born and raised earlier than later where the difference of the two is too profound to be taken for granted.
During the mid seventies as probably in much prior decades before that, students have no technology as internet and mobile phones to talk about, stuff that come in handy to students of this generation. What we had in our time rather were volumes of books to read upon when there were assignments to do and topics to research. During those times, we learn to value not only the art of researching but also our reading skills were greatly enhanced as these two come hand in hand in our call of duty to research something. There were no mobile phones or computers that give access to internet, yet, though lacking in these technology, I feel that students who belonged to this era are actually more confident to surmount any perceived obstacle in attaining their set goals in life than their younger counterparts.
On the contrary, the new generations today just have to do some hand manipulation in the computer clicking “copy” and “paste” and presto, any information is gathered in a snap, probably without even the student reading the entire contents of it. There is no substitute to reading and reading where true act of researching is all about.
I would like to believe that there were much opportunities of learning then for one to become a truly learned person that what are offered today. Take for instance the teachers or professors in the prior years. They too were products of a much older yet better education system such that they have so much to offer as much as we learned so much from them. Compared today, schools or universities tend to accept in their stable of teachers even those without master degrees or even those that obviously lack basic teaching skills, thereby jeopardizing the quality of learning to their students.
On the other hand, whether you had your college then or have it now, students took it as a path for a better and brighter tomorrow. This is especially true to the parents who toiled hard to send their children to college. College education to them is like the be all and end all. To them, earning a diploma is the road to success. Later, they would realize that having able to enter college is not at all an assurance to land a good job. Graduates with poor college background end up no greater than their unschooled counterparts, thus, would likewise end up with jobs unfit for degree holders.
Where it comes to similarities of college life before and now, there are plenty and focused on the excitement of a student to show all and sundry that he or she too is ready for the competition ahead. Opportunities to attend college do not come to all, such that those who were lucky to reach university tend to believe they belong to the cutting edge.
In the end, it is always the empowering and transformative quality college education that sets students from the rest.
Sad to say, there are many so called college institutions that sprouted today offering lower fees. This has become an alternative to students whose parents cannot afford to pay the tuition of a real university. In their desire to joining the bandwagon, that of being branded as a college student, they enroll in this learning institution. It is better than nothing or so they say. Despite living amidst the buzz of a constantly evolving information technology oriented world, hundreds of thousands of graduates all over the archipelago face and uncertain future on the fast lane.
For whatever its worth, college life is really an antidote to planning ones future. Might as well our dear college students start their planning earlier.
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