Carleton’s Fresh Thinking Series and the Office of Quality Initiatives met Sept. 24 to debate whether or not publicly funded universities have the responsibility to train students for employment.
Each side of the debate featured one faculty member, one staff member, and one student. Teams flipped a coin to determine which side they would be arguing for.
The hour-long debate was moderated by Katherine Graham, senior adviser to the university provost, who prodded each team with questions throughout the debate.
In a poll taken upon signing up for the event, 30.4 per cent said they agreed with the thesis of the debate and 28.3 per cent disagreed.
The rest of the audience was undecided.
However, when the debate ended the audience voted 59 per cent in agreement with the thesis, although they felt that the debaters on the negative side made a more convincing argument.
The affirmative side focused their arguments on the idea that university is responsible for training students for citizenship and therefore employment.
Kyla Reid, a research facilitator in the Faculty of Public Affairs, argued for the affirmative side that universities do have this responsibility.
“Training students for employment is how universities contribute to the overall good of society. It’s how they remain relevant,” she said.
Graduate Students’ Association president Grant MacNeil was also assigned to the affirmative side.
“Failing to train students for employment is exploitation and deceit,” he said.
He argued that students spend money to attend university, expecting it to lead to employment.
When students graduate and then must attend college or an unpaid internship, this is disingenuous, he said at the debate.
The negative side of the debate argued that universities do not have a responsibility to train students for employment.
“University has a particular role in society in producing, sharing and using knowledge without being hindered by the demands of industry or government,” neuroscience graduate student Laura Friberg said.
“Job preparedness is a happy side effect of a well rounded university experience,” she argued.
After each side made their concluding statements the negative team was crowned winner with a wrestling style belt.
Carleton’s Fresh Thinking Series is a voluntary learning community for Carleton employees meeting the last Tuesday of every month, with some events open to students.
