A Practical Education - Book Review

The subtitle to Randall Stross' A Practical Education is what drew me to pick up an advanced reader's copy of the book at BookCon 2017: "Why liberal arts majors make great employees".  As a liberal arts major, I was curious to read what Stross had to say and eager to find out if anything in this book could apply to liberal arts job seekers.

There were some good takeaways from the book. Even though a Wall Street Journal survey found that 92 percent of executives said "soft skills" were just as important as technical skills, actual hiring practices don't seem to match up. And in a Stanford University project called "Stanford 2025", students imagined a future where no one declared majors but rather a mission. For college students and high school students preparing to go to college, knowing what you want to do and WHY is key. I wish someone had made me think about college that way before I went.

However, this book was not what I was expecting. It's only focused on the experiences of students who attended Stanford, and because it is so Stanford-focused, part of the book reads like a history of how Stanford got started. Which I guess is interesting (that's my liberal arts background talking - I'm interested in learning everything!), but those were not the parts that I wanted to read.

The parts that I did want to read, the case studies of liberal arts majors, were disappointing, too. All of the students interviewed were Stanford graduates. All of the students interviewed ended up not utilizing their liberal arts degrees but ended up in the tech industry. And because Stanford is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, it wasn't that hard for these students to find these tech jobs, "relocate" for the jobs, and use their network of fellow students, professors, family friends, etc. to land interviews. Sure, one girl spent a year sending out resumes before landing a job, but she had already received a job offer from Target (at headquarters, not just at a regional store) and she TURNED. IT. DOWN. Girl, I took the first job offer I received because I needed money.

I get that the point of these stories is to show how liberal arts majors can easily transition into tech careers because of good communications skills and the willingness to learn new skills, but I would have liked to hear stories of other liberal arts majors and the types of career paths they found themselves in. Why did everything have to end up in the tech industry? I felt like tech was being glorified a little bit, like, "Don't worry kids! You can still end up making big bucks in tech even if you majored in something useless like French."

If you work in the tech industry and are wondering why you're not finding the right candidates for your open positions, then yes, read this book! But if you're outside of that niche group, there's really nothing to learn here.

A Practical Education is published by Redwood Press and is on bookstore shelves now. I received a free advance review copy with no obligation to review at BookCon 2017.