WSJ: We Now Need College Courses to Teach Young Adults How to Make Small Talk

November 20, 2023. Jana Mathews, a professor of Medieval literature at Rollins College, checks the bathrooms to coax out students hiding from the big event in her Job Market Boot Camp class, a mixer with alumni to practice professional networking. 

For many of her students, the face-to-face conversations with strangers are more nerve-racking than decoding Chaucer. Sydney Parmet had trouble sleeping the night before and considered skipping it. “I kept overthinking what I was going to say and second-guessed whether I should say anything,” said Parmet, who graduated in May from the Winter Park, Fla., campus.

Mathews recommends students try swiping deodorant on palms to avoid clammy handshakes. Those who vomit from nerves should pop a breath mint. If the question, “Tell me about yourself,” triggers temporary amnesia, consult your prepared script, she says. Students practice moving from introductions to asking about the other person to giving their elevator pitch that covers their interests, work experience and skills.

Parmet said she was awkward when she entered the room until another student pulled her into a conversation, and she explained her dream of finding a job for a nonprofit. She now works for a group that aids homeless families and those at risk of becoming homeless.

Everybody seems to have a theory about why many young adults have trouble with so-called soft skills, which include the art of persuasion and civil conversation. Blame smartphone addiction, Covid cocooning or helicopter parenting. Regardless of cause, a growing number of college professors in various disciplines around the U.S. are trying to keep professional chitchat from becoming a lost language.

My response:

Wait. Institutions with banned words, enforced pronouns, trigger warnings, cancel culture and significant limits on free speech -- they are going to help students speak freely and casually? And, of course, they can't talk about the nice weather without being accused of being a denier; they can't talk about politics without being told to shut up, and they can't talk about religion for a number of insane reasons.

A psych prof colleague from across campus forty-five years ago told me in all seriousness and without shame that the definition of a liberal arts degree is learning the ability to make small talk at a cocktail party -- seriously. My how things have changed.

My bet is that colleges will start offering classes on how to make "small talk" using AI to construct spontaneous politically correct thoughts. My fear is that they will make a "small talk" course a requirement, and then have the DEI staff teach it.