Recently, a discussion in one of my college classes (the same kind I mentioned last year about “The Single Purpose of All Education“) brought up the topic of why these students were there. They mentioned all of the trite, pat, “Sunday school” answers: to get training for a job, to earn credentials for a career, to add to their education, etc.
Those answers are all adequate enough, I guess, (though it’s sad that none of them thought to mention an induction into a life as a literate citizen), but I threw them for a loop when I explained the truth.
It’s no secret that most college graduates do not work in the field of their degree, thus negating the “career training” angle. So what is college really for?
Think about it. What does having a college degree tell potential emloyers about you? What can they surmise about you based on the fact that you have that piece of paper, wherever it’s from and whatever field of study it mentions?
They can tell that you made a difficult long-term commitment and followed through on it. And in the real world, my friends, a person who can prove that is worth their weight in gold.
Gently Hew Stone 
Good-old “stick-to-it-iveness”. That should have been one of the vocab words.
But isn’t it a shame that you have to spend 4 or 5 years and $40,000 dollars to make that point?