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To force students graduating from college to sit for standardized tests purported to evaluate what they learned during their college years, or to judge their competence for success in certain occupations, will only show how efficient they are at taking tests, and not much else. Instead of enduring these ridiculous tests, what if they could go on an adventure like the following?
On graduation day, give each student $5,000 and a one-way ticket to a region of the world not of their choosing but where they would be safe from violence and war as much as possible. For a young person moving to a land where they will be a total stranger, $5,000 is not as much money as people imagine. It is barely enough so they won't have to scramble or resort to desperation before they get their feet on the ground. They'll have to be careful how they spend their money so that it won't fly out of their hands, and they'll have to be diligent and resourceful in finding a paying job, and this is just in the first part of their journey.
The agreement is they must live in that part of the world for at least two years. Soon after they arrive, they will have to secure their living spaces and start making new friends. Whatever they do, they will have to live by their wits.
Their college education might be of help to them; then again maybe it won't. A quest like this entails more risks than merely cramming for tests to get high scores. But whatever they learn on their adventure beats anything they would ever learn taking test preparation courses, even if they enrolled in a thousand of them.
After they complete their two years, they can come home. Of course, they must pay for their ticket with money they earn on their own. Or travel to another destination of their choosing. Or continue living where they live now. Whatever they wish.
If we knew their school years would culminate with a trial like this ― a real test of real life ― what and how would we teach them? What does a quest like this demand of young people? More importantly, what would they learn about themselves and the world that might help them live truly fulfilled lives?
For any number of reasons, to go on such a quest is not practical for most young graduates. But if we consider that schools at their best should nurture all young people so they could become citizens who would not just survive but thrive anywhere in the world, what would a curriculum be like that would decently prepare them to pursue such opportunities? Also, would they need to keep taking qualification tests? What for?
Sooner than later, the world will impose a real quest on all of them, a test they won't complete in a mere two years but will live with for the rest of their lives. They won't get the $5,000 either. Some are fortunate in that their parents have the means to get them started with a lot more than $5,000 and even have the connections to get them a job. But that's not so for most of them and maybe it's not such a good thing for the heirs of the favored either.
All of us will have to make decisions every day that will determine what paths we can pursue. Even the affluent will not be spared from this. How we live will be determined more by our character ― our integrity and fortitude ― than through what or who we know or who our parents are or where we went to college or if we even went to college. Life will test all of us, count on that.
The pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus (B.C. 535-475) of Ephesus (in what today is Turkey, not far from Istanbul), is credited with the statement, as it comes down to us in modern English, "One's character is one's fate." Character, and character alone, will get a person through a quest like the one described here, and through life, too, much surer than a fancy degree or a silver spoon will. Granted, a person should read a lot, and it would be good fortune to find learned and wise teachers. But there are other ways, too.
Still, there is no guarantee that a sound education will make one rich or happy or even wise. Yet if what Heraclitus observed 2,500 years ago is true ― that one's character is one's fate…
But what if it's not?
McLallen graduated from Orchard School in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a copy editor at The Korea Times.
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