Some of the most wanted skills at work are soft skills. Teamwork, being able to communicate clearly, listening to others, giving constructive feedback… Those are all highly valued skills in the professional field. So why is it, that in college students are trained to ditch all their soft skills to become a rather isolated lone fighter?
Lonely Law Papers
I remember that one of my first papers in college was this extremely intimidating law paper, leaving everybody scared and stressed, stripping peoples ambitions for a good score and leaving them with only the hope of passing somehow, no matter how bad the grade. My only hope and light in this time were my classmates who were going through the same struggle. So it was only natural to sit down together and brainstorm solutions to the intricate law problems. Apparently, this wasn’t allowed. My college wanted everybody to fight by themselves, for themselves.
The papers were graded harshly, some students failing because their writing being too similar to someone else’s. I remember being frightened when I heard about those cases, since pretty much everyone had worked with someone. This was the first time I wondered why students get conditioned to not help each other and to not problem solve as a team.
You’re “Better” So You Should Make Decisions.
The second time this struck me was in an oral examination where I had to work with a partner whom I’ve never seen before. My partner was loosing their train of thought many times because of the severe stress and anxiety that comes with a new situation like this. Since I saw them struggle so much, I was being extra nice and let them pick the tasks they felt most comfortable with. This led to a bit of back and forth since they didn’t want to just take the easiest parts. Which in my eyes is how a partner exercise should be: both parties communicating to make things fit for everybody. When I was told my grade, I was shocked how low it was. I’ve never had a score this low in that subject. The explanation for this was, that since I was good at this subject, I should’ve taken the initiative, aka run over my partner, telling them what to do, not asking for their preferences, simply putting myself above them because I was “better” than them. I was taken aback. This wasn’t a grade based on my knowledge or competence in speech, it was a grade based on being too nice for my examiners taste.
These events really make me wonder, why college is set out like this. Why do students get trained to not cooperate, have it their way and only fight for themselves, when in the workplace, they’re suddenly expected to be able to work in a team, let others speak and be good socially? This to me is a great and sad paradox. Why do you think this is?