Post-secondary education is much more than job preparation

Credit to Author: Geneviève Beaupré and Susan Qadeer| Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2024 21:07:19 +0000

Going to college or university isn’t for everyone. There is much to be learned from work and living, but if you decide it is the right choice for you, be sure that you take advantage of the many benefits and opportunities. This includes opportunities for personal growth, deepening understanding of Canadian culture, fostering habits for a healthy lifestyle, being exposed to new perspectives and making connections. The post-secondary years can be enriching in terms of gaining new knowledge, earning academic credentials, and providing some pathways to careers.

Maximize learning opportunities

Perhaps one of the most interesting and long-lasting benefits of post-secondary education involves the people you meet and their contribution to helping you learn more about the world and yourself. This can occur while chatting in the cafeteria, during in-class discussions, while sitting in dormitory rooms, on even during the long daily commute home. It can happen wherever students gather and talk. Other students represent different cultures and family backgrounds, divergent ways of viewing the world and a vast array of interests. By listening and participating in informal and class discussions, how you see things can change, solidify, and shift again. In being open to other perspectives, you can compare and weigh what you think and know. The personal growth and change possible during these years is very valuable.

More formal interactions include your professors who share their expertise and the inspiration they provide. They can help you develop interests, deepen your knowledge and guide you to build further on them. Guest speakers and organized events at school are also places to widen your interests and learn.

Whatever you decide to study, there are opportunities to take elective courses, go to special guest lectures, meet other students in clubs and student associations. Use these occasions to inform yourself. Take a course in film studies or the history of science or business ethics. As you study these various disciplines, you may find that you start looking at the world in a different way.

Develop your skills

If you are living away from your home and family for the first time, you will be responsible for budgeting money and time. You will have to look after your own laundry and cleaning. Deciding what food to buy and cook may also be new for you. These personal responsibilities may represent challenges to juggle along with academic work and part-time jobs or volunteer opportunities.

Classroom requirements may include some public speaking, presentations and class participation. While some students dread this, these skills are often needed in work and life. Use these opportunities to learn these skills. Setting yourself some goals, such as gradually overcoming your shyness and other inhibitions, which will contribute to your personal and professional growth.  Similarly, the many events, clubs and student-run services allow you to learn to take initiative, gain work experiences and prove your abilities to yourself and others.

For newcomers to Canada, post-secondary education offers opportunities to perfect language skills and understand Canadian culture. In addition, most schools have facilities for exercise and sports. Students can use them to get into regular habits of exercise and a healthy lifestyle. Care should be taken not to make self-improvement burdensome and ammunition for constant self-criticism. Finding the right balance is part of the experience.

School is good for networking, forming new friendships, learning new skills, and getting credentials for work. However, what you learn about yourself, what you think, who and what you find appealing, are invaluable. Attending school is much more than learning a specific discipline or career-related skills – it’s about growth and proving to yourself that you can learn what you need to thrive. Post-secondary school may last just a few years, but both the formal education and the associated benefits could set you up for a lifetime.

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