Theory Two to Theory Three

One of the readings from this semester that still seems to grab my attention the most is Louis Menand’s “Live and Learn.”  Last year, as an LSA student, I would have definitely agreed that college was a theory two.  College was a place to expose students to valuable things for personal and intellectual growth.  After being accepted into Ross this summer, and immersing myself into the classes this semester, I now have a different view on college.  To me, college has turned into a theory three.  I would now describe college as a place that provides specialized knowledge to acquire specific skills for a certain purpose. 

This is supposed to be a professor checking to see if the students are "actually learning anything."

            During discussion, most, if not all students, felt that theory two applies to the type of education we are currently experiencing.   I also thought theory two was most applicable to college, as it is supposed to teach us valuable things about the world and enable us to learn without the concern of a GPA.

            As the semester continued and the discussion about Menand continued, I have come to realize, especially by being in the business school, that I am not in full agreement with the fact that college is a theory two type education.  Although I agreed to this at first, with much thought, I now feel as if college is a theory three type education.  In lecture we discussed that the students that come from Harvard and Michigan are a very small part of this theory three population.  However, I must disagree.

            During freshman and sophomore year of college, I do believe these two years fall under theory two.  During these two years, college is about learning.  College is there to emphasize liberal arts and well roundedness.  Students take a range of classes with multiple different topics to start to find out what they want to do in life.  But it does not end here….

            The years progress, and the student becomes a junior.  As you start to come closer to the end of your college career, I feel as if finding yourself starts to settle down.  But what happens during the next two years of college that changes the fact that it might be a theory three?  My answer to this is that students must choose a major.  As students become juniors and seniors, they stop taking the liberal arts classes just to fulfill their credits, and start taking classes pertaining to their major.  They are now going to college for a certain purpose, to fulfill their major.  College starts to provide specialized knowledge for the major the student chooses.  College may not be vocational training, or leading to a specific job, but I feel it is specific enough because it is in that field.

This image is supposed to represent the idea of students taking many different courses to finally choose a major.

            One example, pertaining to myself, is a student choosing to be a business major.  By the end of sophomore year, the student will start to realize what in the field of business really interests them, and they will want to continue with that interest.  They will no longer take accounting, finance, marketing, and other classes, and start to focus on one of these fields.  If they decide they are most interested in accounting, they will start to take more advanced accounting classes, to further their knowledge in that field.  Now, they have a purpose.  They want to do something in the field of accounting.  Their purpose now of being at college and in the business school is to be provided with specialized knowledge about accounting to get a job in this field.

The Ross School of Business logo.

            In the end, college is there to provide you with the knowledge specific to what interests you the most.  Once you choose your major, you have a set path, to accomplish this major, and college will provide you with knowledge specific to that major.  I have come to think of college as a more professional institution.