Friday, December 7, 2007

What You Learn in Business School

There is a young woman in our organization that is soon to graduate from business school with an MBA. The company has paid for it. Good for her. But the fact that she is graduating highlights my feelings about the current state of college education, and Business School in particular.

It's my belief that, especially in the State of Florida, as long as you pay your tuition you will get a degree. No one ever fails. I have seen MBAs come to our company that were incapable of forming a simple declarative sentence let alone perform any complex business analysis. And I offer the following as justification for my belief:

A group of us are sitting in the lunch room finishing our salads. The topic of discussion has been the surgery a coworker has recently undergone as a result of an auto accident. Ms. Soon-to-be MBA, a member of the ME Generation, wants the conversation focused on her, so she announces that her sister recently had emergency surgery as well. Someone graciously asked what type of surgery she had.

"She had something removed" Brainiac answered. "Uhmmm, it started with "p"."

We all tried to think of body parts that started with "p". "Something pulmonary" someone offered?

Nope. "Planter's Wart" someone else thought? "Pancreas" was my hopeful suggestion. Nope again.

"Prostate" one of the sour old guys suggested, which drew a snicker from most. But it went over Ms. MBA's head. "Nope, not that" she said as though her sister actually had one.

"Oh! I remember!" she exclaimed in Barbie like fashion. "It was her pendix."

And with that, satisfied she had been the focus of our attention for at least five minutes, she got up and left.

There was a hush over the room. Finally, someone asked "Didn't she say the body part started with the letter "p"?" The room exploded in a combination of laughter and derision.

MBA indeed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

rotflmao. i am applying to grad school cus i know that i dont know squat. funny.

Anonymous said...

so let me get this right; she does not know medical terms and this has what to do with a mba?
I think you are the idiot, not her!!

Cobracock said...

Responding to Anonymous July 13: The author is NOT an idiot. The author is making a point about common sense and narcissism. My field of study is History, but I know what an APPENDIX is. I knew in elementary school. Its a commonly used word that most people of graduate school age know. You fail to understand a simple assumption and are calling someone an idiot? "Long Sigh..." you probably just felt the need to lash out because you didn't know a "pendix" from apendix either.