The college experience traditionally has been considered a rite of passage, the time where young minds absorb knowledge and develop the critical thinking skills to put that knowledge into action. This benefits not only themselves but to the community around them. This view is important now more then ever; we live in a media soaked world, and we are bombarded by information, messages and images by 24-hour outlets and through every conceivable technological wonder imaginable. This creates a definite need to be able to quickly assess this information through a critical lens. You can't take things at face value. College is necessary in helping build the foundations for such criteria.
             The college experience allows the student to choose a course of study but no matter what route a student takes a good school will show a student how all studies connect. It also provides close contact with a diverse student body, allowing students to experience true cultural diversity. Students from every race, religion and creed sharing view and opinions that might otherwise not be heard and understood in the proper contexts will allow a student a better understanding of their community at large and the issues and needs they will face.
             This experience will be important so that a student will have the tools they need to facilitate a smooth transition into the job market when they can use what they have learned to navigate the business world while retaining the ability to see how their actions and the business effects the world around them. This allows the student fully grasp the complexities of the workplace environment and wrestle with the notions of commerce vs. community and their impact on these systems. College provides such a wide and varied course of study that the student will begin to see how all of the different disciplines cross paths, from Sociology to History, from Philosophy to Mathematics, from Drama to History. These skills wil
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