Today I picked up my cap and gown for BBC’s graduation ceremony (coming up on May 7). It definitely seemed surreal to think that I’m done with my undergraduate experience. Getting your cap and gown for the second time is a unique experience.
Our 2010 world puts a big emphasis on college education and career success. To a certain extent, this emphasis is very good. Jobs are important and getting harder and harder to come by. Working hard for a college degree and financially investing in one is definitely worthwhile.
But some take this to wrong extremes. Some make the cap and gown their idol. Even on BBC’s campus some students might see the cap and gown as the measure of success in life. True success, however, is not measured by the reception of the cap and gown – symbolizing educational advancement.
More important than merely receiving the cap and gown is the process leading up to the graduation event. Was I honest in my class-work and studies? Did I work hard to learn all I could? Did I love other students like Christ loves me? Was my attitude an attitude of thankfulness? Were my motives in line with my convictions as a disciple of Christ?
The process of the college education is the measure of true success.
Not just graduation itself.
So dozens of college dropouts are successful because they participated in an failed endeavor (or process)? If you worked for me doing construction, and I asked you to dig a hole 4 feet deep, and you only dug it 2 feet deep – when I fired you – would you say, “its the process that counts not the result.”? The process is pointless without success.
Peter,
Yes – the end result is important. Graduating from college is a great accomplishment, and I’m excited that I am going to be a college graduate in May. To be fair though, digging a hole is different than going to college. My point in this blog was not for all of life entirely. My point was that college graduation should not be the ONLY goal. Does that make sense?
You wrote, “The process of the college education is the measure of true success.”
I take this to be the thesis of your post. It does not make sense much sense. You are elevating the mean above the end. Is this Baptist Bible College’s official educational viewpoint?
No – this is not BBC’s official position. It’s simply my opinion that there’s more to true success in a college education than the piece of paper hanging on the wall with a frame around it.