The Blog of Lisa Morosky

I’ve spent a lot of time recently reflecting on my college education. I went to Pennsylvania State University and graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in Media Studies, and a Minor in Communication Arts & Sciences. That’s a lot of nonsense words, I know.

The reason I’ve been thinking about it lately is because I’ve embarked on this self-employment, business owner thing over the last year. And when I think about where I am now, I can honestly say that I spent 3.5 years stalling my life. I probably could have skipped college and gone directly into what I’m doing now. Granted, it might have been more of a fight because people like to see that you have a degree in something.

My degree taught me everything about how the “old school” media works.

I learned how to write newspaper articles. I learned the history of the media. I learned about producing the nightly news. I learned about advertising. I learned all that, and I semi-enjoyed it at the time because I’ve always been really into the media and everything about it.

But when I step back and look at it now, I see that no one told me anything about social media or blogging or any sort of online media whatsoever. I think that’s pretty ridiculous, considering I graduated in 2007.

I don’t expect those topics to be in college curriculums any time soon, nor do I think they should be. No one ever learned social media or blogging in a classroom setting. You learn it by doing it. But I still think it’s odd that there wasn’t even a mention of it in passing as a form of media to watch.

Is the collegiate system still clinging to this idea that traditional media will live on, even as newer media types continue to pulverize them into the ground?

They make it so damn difficult to just learn what you want to learn in college.

I really wanted to get into marketing when I went to Penn State. But see, to be in the marketing program, you had to know that you wanted to do marketing essentially from the time of birth. You had to declare that major the second you applied to college. Really, come on, who knows what they want to major in really when they apply for college? Not many people.

So I chose Media Studies, which was a broad major that gave you a little taste of everything. But I never got over that anger I felt (obviously) when they told me I couldn’t be a marketing major without having to complete several (useless) prerequisite courses that would cost me thousands more dollars and at least another year. I guess it worked out for the best though. I now do Internet marketing, all of which I’ve taught myself (with the help of some awesome mentors and programs along the way).

And what’s with the need to take all these general courses when you get to college? I thought that’s what high school was, learning everything everyone else wanted you to learn. If I’m not mistaken, and my student loan bills don’t lie, I paid good money for my college education. The least you can do is let me choose what I want to learn and not require that I take math and science courses when I’ve been math and science challenged since the day I was born.

They gave me a lot of information with no way to apply it.

I learned a lot about media literacy (something I feel very strongly about) and all of the horrible things that are wrong with the media industry. That’s great, knowledge is power, but what the hell am I supposed to do now? I was taught all of this information and given no direction on how or when to apply it to my life. That’s probably one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to education. People need to be shown how things relate to them specifically and what you can do with all the knowledge you’ve acquired.

Maybe that’s why I’ve always been more of a “street smart” girl. When I don’t know something and I need to know it, I go learn it, then I apply it. Lather, rinse, repeat and you have my philosophy on education.

They told me to start at the bottom and climb my way up.

Realistically, that’s probably a good thing to tell someone who just graduated with a degree in Communications, because that’s all you can do unless you’ve gotten a break somewhere. With starting wages in the $20,000s for newly graduated Communications professionals, you better just love what you’re doing.

But I just can’t wrap my head around that “climb the ladder, pay your dues” mentality. That’s why I quit my job. The time I was spending climbing someone else’s ladder I could have been spending on building up my own business. Don’t subscribe to that way of thinking. You don’t need to pay your dues your whole life. You just need to make things happen for yourself.

Now, don’t get me wrong here. I love Penn State. I’m fanatical about the football team, I had some awesome professors, and I believe in them as an institution. Plus, I met my husband on the first day of college. Not to mention the fact that I did learn a lot. Maybe all of that general knowledge will come in useful down the road. Who knows.

Equally as important to mention is the fact that I’m not belittling education in any way. I’m a lifelong student. But my way of learning has never been in a classroom with teachers. It’s been either on my own, searching out that information, or it’s been one-on-one with a mentor. Hi my name is Lisa, and I am so not book smart. My husband, on the other hand, is the epitome of book smart. If you can’t be book smart, marry someone who is. I’m just sayin’.

In a lot of ways I do think my college education failed me. I think I was just in it for the fancy letters on my resume (which I don’t even use anymore, by the way).

Thoughts on your college education?