When you ask the average person on the street what they went to or are going to college for, a vast majority of the time you’ll get an answer that sounds something like, “I want to be a ‘insert occupation here’”. 

Essentially, even though college was originally meant to produce wise, mature leaders of tomorrow, the general populous has adopted the late industrial idea that man is nothing more than an economic being and college is about nothing more than finding your place in the economic machine. It’s not about forming your character and your morals, your spirituality or your values - it’s about helping you get a job.

It’s a good thing Christians don’t think this way…

…Except, they do. 

In 2015, the Barna Group did a survey asking the question “What’s the purpose of going to college?” They split the interviewees into two categories: a) all US adults and b) self-identified Christians.

Among the category “all US adults”, the top 3 reasons for going to college, in exact order, were: 

1. Prepare for a specific job or career - 69%
2. Increase financial opportunities - 55%
3. Stay competitive in today’s job market - 48%

After generations of narrative convincing the average American adult that their primary purpose is to work and to consume, it’s no wonder that the average American adult also thinks that the primary purpose of college is to prepare you for career and financial opportunities.

The bottom 2 reasons for going to college?

9. Develop moral character - 14%
10. Encourage spiritual growth - 7%

Essentially, the common belief that most Americans share is that the primary transition period from adolescence to adulthood is almost entirely about job preparation and has very little to almost nothing to do with spiritual growth and character development.

Does anyone see the problem here? Is it any wonder that a rising number of Gen Z’ers are uninterested in marriage or children, the definition of a healthy, stable family is changing, and mental health decline is on the rise? 

An even bigger problem? Barna’s survey found that the self-identified Christian group had the exact same priorities.

In order of importance:

1. Prepare for a specific job or career - 70%
2. Increase financial opportunities - 55%
3. Stay competitive in today’s job market - 51%

The least important:

9. Develop moral character - 14% 
10. Spiritual growth - 7%

With the above statistics - one would expect that workplaces are filled with workers who are grinding away in the economic machine, hyper focused, efficient, and responsible. Their souls are dead, but by gosh they’re producing and spending. After all, that’s what they went to college for - to produce and to consume.

The problem is, we shot ourselves in the metaphorical foot. While a few generations before millennials did engage with the economy in a way that allowed for lifeless labor during the week as long as the promise of a good weekend and retirement loomed, millennials and Gen Z saw the mirage and have been unable to reconcile existing solely as a producer and consumer with the picture of the good life. 

Not only that, but because we’ve set aside foundational human processes like discovery of purpose, character development, and spiritual growth, mental health has become a bonafide crisis within millennials and Gen Z.

So now, instead of workplaces being filled with people who really are just living for the weekend, workplaces are filled with…well, they aren’t filled at all. 

When I met with Kye Laughter, regional director for Senator Ted Budd in Western North Carolina, a few weeks ago, one of our main talking points was how the majority of major employers in every county he represents are struggling to find workers. And as anyone reading this who has gone out in public in the last 5 years knows, this isn’t a regional problem. 

The US might have the lowest unemployment rate since the 1950’s but that’s because the unemployment rate is measured by taking into account people willing and able to work but who can’t find work.

What’s happened? To put it simply - when we removed from college the search for meaning, the development of character, and the formation of the spirit of a man, we removed the very things that make work worth it.

In the garden, God gave man the mandate to use his gifts to create and cultivate, to tend and to keep it. It was from this abiding relationship with Him that work found meaning and man brought purpose to his work, all the while cultivating the character and integrity to sustain it. It was out of a conviction that life was good, the garden could be cultivated and raised into a city, and skills were gifts from God to be exercised for the good of the world that the first man found meaning in his work. 

What we’ve done in the last two centuries is remove meaning and purpose from man and thereby we removed meaning and purpose from his work. 

Some have called Gen Z the “sick note generation” or sneeringly referred to them as “snowflakes”, referencing the propensity to call out sick, show up late, make excuses because of mental health reasons, or not work because it doesn’t “feel purposeful enough”.

And there’s truth to a lot of these issues (sometimes, stereotypes exist for a reason) but what did we expect? As a culture we’ve bought the lie that life is meaningless and our primary purpose in life is to produce and consume, and so we’ve built the primary institution responsible for transition from adolescence to adulthood (college) to both reflect and shape people for these purposes. 

The problem is production and consumption were never meant to carry the weight of defining the purpose of man, and after 100 years they’ve finally begun to buckle under the weight, along with a generation that simply can’t take being reduced to economic man.

You want Gen Z and Gen Alpha to succeed in the marketplace? Help them discover their purpose and identity in Christ. Help mold their character to be the person that God made them to be. Teach them to “abide in the vine” that they might produce fruit spiritually.

In short, if you want them to succeed in the marketplace, don’t reduce them to the marketplace. Help them build healthy relationships, to love, to worship in community, to play, to get off the screens and enjoy life around them, and yes, to work. 

If college is to stay relevant in a rapidly changing culture, it’s “why’s” must expand from pure workforce development to people development. From promising financial security to cultivating moral strength. From staying relevant in the job market to staying healthy and connected spiritually. 

As a follower of Jesus, I believe that only faith based colleges are truly up to this task. Ironic, because they were the first colleges anyways.