YOU ARE THE most important part of college.

After all the sound and fury, after all the song and dance, you are what you get out of college. Your personal development and other good habits prepare you for the workplace, where most of us will spend the rest of our lives.

The diploma is nice, but won̢۪t impress anyone. The stole feels like cheap cloth stretched over cardboard.

Let̢۪s not even get started on the tassle.

Most tassles are either drab earth tones or hideous pastels.

I thanked my lucky stars before I graduated that Arts and Humanities’ tassle was white — that’s one that’s hard to screw up.

No tassle, no diploma, no stole, no gown matters in the end. No employers care whether or not you attend the overlong graduation ceremony where people you̢۪ve never met get honors you̢۪ve never heard of.

I̢۪d bet Joyal̢۪s gold-lined pockets that the administration̢۪s main concern is getting you out of Fresno State in a timely fashion.

After all, to the higher body of Fresno State officials you are a product.

I doubt you̢۪d agree.

For you, graduating will be the culmination of a long, hard haul — you carefully balanced your freshman-year drunkenness with last year’s studiousness, and you had generally passing grades.

As long as you̢۪re gone, the administration doesn̢۪t care about your personal triumphs if they wouldn̢۪t look good in advertising literature.

This is easily clarified. One graduation is a miracle, but one thousand is a statistic. For those of you keeping score at home, that paraphrases and takes out of context the bloodiest Soviet premier̢۪s defense of genocide.

I doubt you came to college because you like that heartwarming cog feeling.

I also doubt most of us came to college primarily to learn things for the sake of learning.

Including high school and earlier, you̢۪ve had a whole decade and a half of school, and for what?

What does college give you, and why is working at Krispy Kreme right out of high school appealing?

The answer is as obvious as it is concise: money. More money, specifically. Higher salaries, with better benefits. The American dream, however antiquated, is to own a house with a front yard better than the guy next door.

If you agree, you̢۪re not alone: 70 percent of all college freshmen go to college for the money, according to a January survey from UCLA.

That̢۪s why education is important. Our exposure to critical thinking and philosophy might serve us well in our personal lives, but that kind of understanding will really pay off when you get a job and your employer actually wants perspective.

Even though as far as the university is concerned you̢۪re a product, you probably care a whole lot more about your well-being.

The last time I addressed graduation and finding a job, I stressed the importance of getting an internship.

Internships are certainly important, and will fill your straight-out-of-college resume very nicely.

Internships give you practical experience, doing what you want to do for the rest of your life.

Perhaps as important is your personal development.

What good are you to an employer when you̢۪re a pompous jerk? What good are you to an employer when you turn out to be incommunicative? What good are you to an employer when you start mouthing off about quality concerns within potential customers̢۪ earshot?

No good at all.

The best part about this personal development is that it only takes a few moments of self-reflection, sustained over the two, three, four or six years until you matriculate.

Ask yourself: why aren̢۪t I doing better than the guy three rows in front of me who won̢۪t stop asking our professor all those questions?

What do my friends expect of me in interpersonal relationships?

What̢۪s the deal with being on time, and why can̢۪t I get people to cut me some slack?

In general, what aren̢۪t I doing as well as I can?

In general, blame yourself.

In general, find a solution from there, and work toward it.

This is what employers want in those fields with higher salaries with better benefits.

Employers need employees who like improving themselves, and can do it without goading.

That̢۪s something you̢۪ll never read on a diploma.

Benjamin Baxter is a post-baccalaureate student working toward his high school credential in social science. Advice be damned, he tossed his stole in the air at his graduation ceremony last year.