Different kinds of education make each program unique

Andrew Stewart
Senior Reporter

With my time in college drawing to a close, I can’t help but draw some comparisons to the four years of university I did before coming here.

Many people argue the merits of attending college over university, or vice versa, but in my experience both have a great amount to offer.

In four years at Wilfrid Laurier University, I was able to learn a great deal and earn a degree in English with a minor in geography and classics.

While I enjoyed most of the courses I took there, I can’t help but feel that my journalism diploma will be more beneficial to my future career.

University exposed me to a huge amount of literature and authors that I don’t believe I would have had the chance to experience otherwise.

I also found that the teachers there were very laid back, and gave very little feedback about the essays I handed in.

Usually, I got a letter grade on the essay about two weeks after handing it in and that was the last I heard.

College, however, has been nothing but feedback and reinforcement of how I’ve been taught to write for journalism.

I’ve been given more guidance from some of my teachers than I thought I would ever get, especially after having no feedback during university.

That’s not to say that I learned more from my college teachers.

I just found university to be a more independent learning environment, where everyone is thrown into the water and either learned to swim or drowned quite quickly.

Professors assigned you the work, and then whether you came to class and did the work was entirely up to you.

Humber’s teachers, however, were known to take attendance daily and would even have assignments marked within a day or two of receiving them.

College also offered the opportunity to work at internships and gain experience in my field of study, which helped me to ensure that I was in a program for something I want to do for a living.

University left me unsure what kind of job I would get.

Everyone I know who majored in English has been under the assumption that they wanted to go to teacher’s college afterwards. There aren’t many known options for jobs requiring English degrees aside from that.

While I had a great time in university, made a lot of friends and experienced a lot of different things, college definitely offered me a more structured and focused education.

Either system of education has its benefits but ultimately what you want out of your education will determine where you go.