Given the importance of a degree in our future success it?s easy to become over-focused on the pursuit of our chosen specialty. College becomes not a place of learning and enlightenment, but a school at which to learn a trade, and a degree becomes not a symbol of what we have learned but rather a ticket that gives the opportunity to reach for the first rung of the career ladder.
There is no doubt that this pragmatic view of a college is true, and has long been so. But like everything in our lives, college is what we make of it. Certainly we must dedicate ourselves to learning all we can about the specialty we have chosen to pursue, for this is what we hope will feed us, and those we add to our families in time. But we must not forget why we attend college.
To learn. Not just about our specialty, but about everything that interests us. College is our one opportunity to run wild like a kid in a candy store and satisfy our curiosity about everything. Never again will we have a chance to feed our minds unfettered by career responsibilities and family obligations. We should take advantage of this unique opportunity and learn for the joy of it.
Some may see this as a waste of time because the classes are outside their specialty?s course of study. When I entered college to study journalism, I would have agreed with you. But when I finally got into the University of Missouri School of Journalism after the two years of general education classes all colleges require, I learned that only 25 percent of all my college study would be in journalism.
My advisor, a wonderful professor who chaired the magazine sequence, explained the reason succinctly. Good journalists don?t succeed because they know all of the profession?s mechanical nuances. They succeed because they can relate to the world around them ? and can communicate what they?ve learned to others.
To make sure we J-students expanded our horizons, the school limited the number of journalism classes we could take. Given the mandate to roam through all that the University had to offer I let my eclectic interests run wild. I took a lot of "ology" courses ? anthropology, meteorology, sociology, psychology, and Greek mythology. I took classes in philosophy, economics, and library science just because I was interested in them.
When I was a student I doubted that I?d ever use much of what I learned in classes outside my journalism core. I was just happy to satisfy my curiosity ? and meet my graduation requirements. Now I realize how naive I was. Rarely a week goes by when I don?t draw upon what I learned nearly 20 years ago.
Strangely enough, two seemingly unrelated sociology courses have proved the most valuable ? the sociology of war and conflict, and the sociology of age and sex roles. (The two really were related at times because in the latter I was the sole male among 26 females. But we had some great, no-holds-barred discussions, and I hope they learned as much as I did.)
By now you might be wondering what journalism has to do with earning a degree in and pursuing an aviation career.
More than you think.
Just like journalists, the pilots who succeed are those who can relate to those in the world around them. Ask anyone who hires professional pilots and they?ll tell you that superior stick and rudder skills really are only a small part of the job because pilots are just one cog in the aviation machinery. The same goes for aviation?s other ground and flight careers. One career "cog" can?t survive without the other, and to succeed all the cogs must mesh ? must relate to each other ? smoothly. And not all of the cogs are in aviation.
Naturally, if you pursue an aviation degree, you won?t have the same academic freedom as a journalist because aviation is immensely more technical. But you?ll still have elective courses, those you can take purely for the joy of learning about the subjects they teach. Don?t bypass this opportunity. Reach afar and satisfy your curiosity. In time these classes will pay dividends ? just as those in your core specialty will.
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