Five college classes that should exist
College curriculums are not preparing us for the modern workplace. These classes could change that.
Modern workplace has changed a lot in the last few years, but college education hardly has. Choosing a major is supposed to provide you with the skill-set or at least a knowledge base for your future long-life career. The reality is quite different as we tend to change career paths more often during our lifetime. In many cases, we start to work in positions that did not even exist a few years ago, when we attended college.
Fast pace, long-life learning, and flexibility are the mantras of the modern worker, but this hardly reflected in our university textbooks.
It is not like schools are not trying to be more relevant. Each major college is working hard to give its students practical hands-on experience by changing its curriculums to include workshops, practical assignments and working with real-life companies. It is for an easier transition from college environment to the work field. But how does it prepare us for a career change, remote work and productivity crisis?
It is only after few years into our career path that we realize we are missing some crucial skills. Many will immediately start looking for solutions. We resource to productivity articles, career coaches or newest project management app. Often it is not enough as our maniac search for a solution is only a symptom of burnout. I have seen it among friends and experienced it first hand. Career burnout at 30 is a real thing.
So instead of looking for the cure when it is already too late, maybe we could avoid that? What if some of those solutions would be part of our college education along with whatever major we would choose? Here are some of the college courses ideas that I wish I could take. I believe they should be obligatory just like in early days of universities; logic or philosophy was.
1. Personal project management 101
Because time is the only resource that matters. The sad truth is when nobody teaches us how to manage time, we waste a lot of it: redoing work, investing our energy in the wrong project, losing focus. We could avoid purchasing too many productivity bestsellers by learning the basics of time management at school.
Proposed areas of study: productivity apps, project management methodologies, tools, and techniques to avoid redoing work
2. Financial planning 101
Financial institutions just love college students, and they have quite a few reasons. Credit cards, student loans and the need to party hard (and spend heavily) every weekend — those factors make students one of the best customers (read: long-term with extremely high margins). If you ever had the opportunity to read stories on LearnVest, a financial planning portal aimed at millennials, you know the end of the story. The struggle with debt is the reality for the majority of young adults. This course could give economy professors an opportunity to explain the financial market on an easier to comprehend scale.
Proposed areas of study: basic of accounting, accounting apps, financial products overview and terms, personal financial planning
3. Introduction to remote work 101
Swanky startup offices with their free snacks and fuss ball tables are fun. But office reality of majority college graduates is at best a nice cubicle combined with a 2 hours daily commute. And the commute part applies to startups employees too. Remote work is a tempting alternative, but to be effective, it has to be done right. My dream professors for that course would include Jason Fried from 37signals and Matt Mullenweg from Wordpress. Some could argue this is a not a universal subject, but benefits of including remote job in your work schedule are science-proven. Smart companies know, that even one day a week of “home office” can lead to happier and more productive employees.
Proposed areas of study: best practices from remote organizations and traditional ones embracing remote work, organizing your home office, project management, and communication for remote work
4. Advanced Internet Skills 202
We are all online, but do we know how to do it right?
Take this small list of tasks:
1. create your website,
2. set up a Google Analytics account,
3. remember important, exciting research you found online last week (was it last week?)
4. run a simple ad campaign online,
5. explain the basics of computer science to your parents
All this should be a no-brainer for the majority of college students, but they have to learn those basic skills on their own. A college, with a course like that, would give it graduates a real advantage in the modern marketplace.
Proposed areas of study: basic of computer science, basics of web design, overview of website creating platform, introduction to Search Engine Optimization, introduction to Search Engine Marketing
5. Mindfulness 101
Skilled project manager, financially responsible and digital savvy — graduate of the first four courses is any recruiter’s dream. In the fast-paced world, we live in a sought-after skillset is a predictor of attractiveness on the job market. But when it comes to long-term success and personal happiness it is the ability to tune into yourself that will help you achieve more. I believe that mind-fullness should be practiced from very young age. But college years are a perfect time to see those practices turn into results faster. Stressful exam periods, competition and peer pressure — all of it could be made easier to manage if such course was made obligatory.
Proposed areas of study: basics of meditation, psychological research on mind-fullness practices, meditation in different cultures.
These are my top 5 choices for college classes that are missing. Do you have your proposals? Put your thoughts in the comment box below.
