Skill labels stifle enlightenment

College smothers polymaths when society needs them most

Too many people today define themselves by way of the skills they’ve received via formal training in college. I’m a biologist, I’m a computer engineer, I’m an accountant. And these distinctions form boxes around people that they willingly lock themselves inside.

Upon meeting someone for the first time, smalltalk typically gets around to “what do you do?” But what the person asking this question really wants to know is, “what are you?”

Most people respond right away with the scripted lines they’ve uttered a thousand times before — I’m an editor, I’m a writer, I’m a banker, and so on. And indeed these titles even sum up self-identities far too often.

When we’re looking in the mirror, in one of those low moments, asking ourselves, “who am I?”, our formal distinctions come to mind even then, though we might add a few more specific titles to assure ourselves that we are actually more than a museum curator. We might add, I’m a husband, I’m a wife, father, daughter, etc.

And indeed these particularities are what society expects. It’s the model within which we’re immersed. Most of us who aspire to do something with our lives go to college to get a piece of paper that confirms we are, in fact, nurses…