How to Get the Most Out of College
Endeavor Book Review
The Real World of College
By Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner
MIT Press, 2022
Many parents and students today are wondering whether a college education is worth the cost. But the only way to answer that question is to consider one’s personal motivations in life and, second, whether a college education will help you achieve your objective. In other words, the answer to the question is relative.
In The Real World of College, Harvard University professors Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner present their findings of what students, parents, professors, and college administrators think about the purpose and value of higher education in the twenty-first century. The book describes hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with two thousand people (primarily students) at ten US institutions, giving us a deep look at qualitative data about, as the title suggests, the real world of college.
The book provides invaluable, thought-provoking insights about what is certainly one of the most important decisions a person can make—whether to go to college, why, and where.
First, let’s consider what Fischman and Gardner found. Their extensive interviews revealed that students choose to enroll in college with four “mental models,” or what we might call “mindsets.” These mindsets describe the underlying reasons why students pursue a college degree, which in turn reveals their expectations for what they will get in return for their time and money.
First, the authors discovered that some students go to college because someone (usually parents) told them to go, or because “that’s what my friends are doing.” Many were there only for social involvement, not academics. The authors described these students as “inertial.” Fortunately, they found that only 3 percent of students interviewed fit this description.
Second, the interviews showed that 45 percent of students were “transactional.” These students attended college with the primary motivation of finding a higher-paying job after graduation. They think almost exclusively about career development and professional networking.
A third group of students was motivated to attend college because they loved learning and relating to others who also saw academics as a joyful experience of personal growth. The authors describe these people as having an “exploratory” motivation for going to college. Their research found that 36 percent of students fit this description.
Finally, the authors discovered a fourth type of student, which they describe as being “transformational.” These students hope that college will transform their inner lives and overall social situation. Some, especially those who attend religious institutions, hope to graduate as radically changed people. Some transformational students come from broken, impoverished situations and therefore believe that college will help them escape from a terrible past. Those with distressed family backgrounds often value a college education more than any other group. Because they have had so little to begin with, they are profoundly thankful for the opportunity. (All students could learn something from those people.) According to the authors’ findings, about 16 percent of students go to college for “transformational” reasons.
Obviously, many students go to college for a combination of these four mindsets. But if we look at the data comprehensively, we see a bell curve: The majority of students attend college for both transactional and exploratory motivations.
The authors seem most concerned about those who go to college for only transactional reasons. They see education through a narrow cost-benefit lens. There is nothing wrong with considering the transactional and financial aspects of college. However, the authors demonstrate that an exclusively transactional view has significant downsides. For one, these students often experience far more stress and anxiety during their college years than students who have a broader range of motivations.
The authors emphasize that the value of college should not be limited only to transactional factors. Students and parents need to have a broader range of objectives and expectations. Fischman and Gardner argue that college students should enter college with an “exploratory” mindset, and perhaps a “transformational” mindset.
“You (students) are fortunate to live at a time when higher education—which within memory was limited to only the few with status, privilege, and/or resources—is available to an ever-larger number of individuals on the planet,” write the authors, as counsel to students. “College provides a rare opportunity—one might even say a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity . . .” (p. 292). The authors argue that students should “explore new territories—cognitively, socially, emotionally—and remain open to being transformed in certain ways” (p. 293).
What does it mean to be an exploratory student? For one, students should focus on academic experiences, not just nonacademic activities. They need to use their time well, prioritizing study and developing mentoring relationships with professors. They should not be afraid to ask for help. They should see university life as an opportunity to forge healthy, mutually encouraging friendships. In other words, going to college is not primarily about football or a climbing wall in the student center. College is about learning and relationships. The opportunity should be embraced with joy and gratitude.
The authors also have some advice for parents. “If [parents] focus solely on ‘employment’ and ‘jobs,’ you will undermine your offspring’s opportunity to become a broad and well-informed adult, worker, parent, and a citizen,” they write. “Our study documents that most students think that parents are obsessed with jobs. So it’s worth going out of your way . . . to foreground the important nonvocational aspects of college” (p. 297).
In my view, the book overlooks an important factor. As reported in the book Range by David Epstein, many younger students don’t have a clear understanding of themselves or their natural professional talents. Epstein says that most young people today need additional time or help to figure that out. Perhaps universities could do more to help students with this crucial question.