It’s become the mantra for the past decade, and we’ve all heard it enough times to know that it’s true, but I’ll say it again: a Bachelor’s degree is the new high school diploma.

It’s no secret that college is essential these days. Applying for a job without additional schooling is considered career suicide. As a soon-to-be graduating senior, however, I can’t help but feel that at least half of my time and money spent at Iona College was a waste.

In speaking with a few friends over the Thanksgiving weekend, I heard a lot of worries about the job search. Everyone has a story about previous graduates who leave school only to end up working in a restaurant, and as someone who’s going to start worrying about jobs next semester, that scares the hope out of me. 

And as a student who actually enjoys going to class, I feel peeved that I’ll be paying off school loans for the next few decades for classes that I both had no interest in, and had nothing to do with my career opportunities.

Let me give you a perspective. In a class I’m taking this semester to fill my required electives, my teacher (I won’t name names) showed up to a class meeting five minutes late and with no lesson plan scheduled. Instead of frantically looking at notes or Blackboard, she cocked her head back, laughed, and said, “Oh well, I have tenure.” I can’t make this stuff up.

I’ve had a few teachers like this throughout my four years at Iona, and filling out negative course evaluations doesn’t ease the pain. I enjoy a laid-back teacher as much as the next student, but as a customer who has thousands of dollars to pay back after graduation (with little hope of job opportunities), I feel outraged that I’m helping to support teachers who don’t care.

Anyone who reads the news, goes to school, saw the movie “Waiting for Superman,” or cares about America’s future knows our education system needs dire change. It wouldn’t hurt to start with eliminating tenure.

How about this for an idea: what if we worked on a merit-based system, where teachers can increase their salary and benefits based on their good accomplishments, just like any other work office. I know what you teachers are thinking, “Why would I give up job security for a ‘chance’ at getting a raise?” Because it makes you work harder at the reason you became a teacher, to better educate. You know what? Let’s throw in more assessments by supervisors as well to really stir things up.

Now I have nothing against unions or the teachers at Iona. In fact, I consistently brag about Iona’s stellar mass communications department, where I owe my interest in journalism and media to the many experienced professionals holed in Murphy. My biggest problem is the long list of core classes.

It makes sense to require freshmen to take an eclectic variety of core classes—it’s the only way they’ll know what they want to do. But as a senior who knows what field and career I want, the idea of taking a required science class next semester to graduate is a blow to the groin.

Every year I’ve been a staff member for the Ionian, I’ve seen a column by a graduating senior about their nostalgia and post-school worries. Here is mine, except my worries (complaints) are about a course workload on topics that will be completely irrelevant in less than a few months.

I’m ready to work, and make those Benjamins, rather than learn about courses that Iona feels is necessary to graduate. At least charge less for the core classes, or at the very least, start weeding out those tenured teachers that make those classes more unbearable.

To contact The Ionian’s Joseph Bland, e-mail him at [email protected].