Are We Really Prepared?

During our class discussion we talked about what the purpose of education was and some people said it was just to get a piece of paper saying we were qualified to do what we want to do, while other people said the purpose was to prepare us for the future. Personally, I feel that we are here to "check off"  the next step in our lives. First was gradually moving up each grade level and graduating high school, then going to college and getting a diploma, then grad school, the a job etc. But, as much as I want to say that education is to prepare us for the future, I feel as though it does not do an adequate job of that, especially when it comes to Ohio State preparing its students to become future educators.

As a senior getting ready to graduate, I do not feel prepared or confident that I would be able to teach a classroom of children. I understand that I still have to attend grad school to begin my experience in a classroom and to obtain my teaching licence, but why is a top rated university waiting four years to put their students in the environment (classroom) that they are supposedly preparing us to be in in the future. It makes me feel as though I have wasted fours years doing absolutely nothing. There are maybe a handful of classes I feel as though I actually absorbed what was being taught to me and plan to use it in my career. It doesn't stop at education majors either. I have talked to numerous individuals who feel that they are not using the knowledge they gained in college in the careers they are in now. To me, it sounds as though education is a business. We are paying for classes we are told we have to take to graduate, but they are not preparing us for our future careers. We are going into debt and spending all this money on an education that won't help is in the future. http://www.businessinsider.com/is-college-still-worth-it-penelope-trunk-2013-5 This article examines that premise.