21st Century Man & College

THE MAN YOU AN BE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

21st Century Man & College

You are a young man in college. Congratulations. You are smart enough to make the experience worth your effort and expense. So, after four or five years of study, you have attained at least fundamental work related skills and sufficient knowledge of your abilities, limitations, and individual ambitions to launch your economic and social independence. I’m fairly sure you’ve also experienced amazing bouts of liquor and girls, or getting ready too if you’re a freshman. Always a good time.

However, lurking beneath these important objectives is a question: “Does the college I’ve enrolled in provide the proper educational opportunity for me to learn what I need, once I graduate?” The differences in colleges agenda and in the students ambitions, leaves the answer to the intelligent judgment of the inquiring 21st century young man.

An article entitled, “ College A Trade School for the Elite,”(Wall Street Journal, August 7,2017) provides fodder to work your brain to chew on this very matter. The article points out that colleges and universities in America are focused on vocational training. They are very expensive trade schools. The curricula of colleges and universities show that they emphasize vocational education above the goals of higher education: which are critical thinking, understanding of humanity and oneself, breath and depth of knowledge, and learning about the values worth living for.

Though job skills are essential for every young man to acquire, based on their desires for a future, college provides one avenue. What a college can and should provide, which trade and vocational schools do not, is the wisdom of living the humanities: Philosophy, history, literature, religious studies, art, art history and music, which all stimulate to uncover the wisdom in oneself, as well as, highly beneficial in teaching the young man how the world works. What do I mean? If you don’t have humanities studies in your curriculum, then it would be beneficial to add them to your courses. Read on, I’ll explain the benefits and there are girls in this story.

Let’s say our millennial doesn’t wish to go to college, he seeks out an alternative to attend a trade school, which are also highly beneficial in creating a good financial future. The 21st Century certainly has expanded online schooling and alternative ways to get an education. In this case, it would be advantageous for this young man to also take courses in the humanities. See above.

Most 21st century young men, sooner or later learn a skill, follow a career path, and hopefully earn sufficient income and beyond. The pressure from society demands it and even forces it. In the long run, knowing about yourself and how human kind operates are just as valuable, if not more so, than work skills. Another reason to consider the benefits of studying the humanities are jobs that are interpersonal and one-on-one and those that require—even demand—interaction with people. Because the humanities specialize in communication skills and knowledge about people, they may help you to avoid stepping on social land mines. It could mean the difference between being welcomed and appreciated, instead of being disliked and rejected.

These studies teach the art of living well and how the world works. The humanities (literature, philosophy, art, religion, music, and so forth) offer an understanding about making life better, regardless of what the world has thrown at us. Accordingly, the 21st century female, who struggles on many fronts, cannot help but admire a man who attempts to take up this challenge of learning about the larger, more demanding issues of living well in a complex society. Also, she’s totally going to respect and admire your ability to converse on many different topics. Score dude!

Humanities teach and help you learn how to live in a way that brings satisfaction, health, and development of full potential and, above all, avoiding self induced damage, that f***’s up your life later on. Don’t forget, you will mature and many of the young women you’re attending college with, will as well. Eventually you will be a mature and competent man, and learning this invaluable way of study’s could help get you that amazing woman.

Young men of the 21st century, make sure you plan and look ahead for the long range. Knowing about the world at large and how people operate is the core aim of humanity studies, and are fundamental keys to success for young men in the new paradigm emerging in this 21st century. The complexities of the 21st century is making it far more challenging than in the past. You’ll need to jump more hoops and not on the basketball court. In real life.

For those reading this and rolling your eyes, remember this: There is also a short range pay off for studying the humanities. You are less likely to be boring to women. Keep in mind women are not impressed by one-sided men only concerned with job, career, money, or sports. In addition to operating better romantically, by your broader knowledge and finesse learned from human studies, you are better equipped to navigate in the work place and especially with women in the work place. As I say in my book “The Man You Can Be For The 21st Century”, women are powerful in the work force. They are co-workers and even bosses now. But forgetting all of that, they are becoming highly educated and if you want to get the girl, you better get the brain.

I have full confidence in you, the 21st century man to take the direction that will serve you best.

J.D. Lee, Educational Psychologist & Author

THE MAN YOU CAN BE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY provides guidelines for the young man of the 21st century to set his course for his future: planning ahead financially, preparing for challenges of life cycles, better understanding of the female psyche, and developing a positive male role model, acquiring a life style that sees you living well and healthy into your 90’s. These are some of the ambitions for the young man of the 21st century who strives to be conscious of himself and the world around him. Study the humanities.