

Are college students learning? - eplanit
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-zimmerman-are-college-students-learning-20120131,0,3266290.story?track=rss

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jsiarto
My wife and I are both adjunct profs at a major Big Ten university and I
actually see this trend first hand. I typically have about 30 students per
semester teaching a 300-level server management course and of that group I'd
say 10% tops are exceptional and the rest are really average or below average.

We are both perplexed and frightened at just how lazy, unprepared and
nonchalant the current generation of college goers are. Some of these kids
have no clue that just "showing up" to college isn't going to get them jack in
this hyper-competitive world.

I'm 28, BTW -- not much older than most of these students...

UPDATE: I actually think you can't plant all of this blame on the universities
--our generation (people that are between 20 and 30 now) has a serious problem
with drive, ambition and thinking shit is just suposed to be handed to them.
Our peers need to step up just like universities need to step up an adapt--
learning is a two-way street.

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ggchappell
> ... I actually see this trend first hand.

The article does not mention a "trend". Is something changing?

> We are both perplexed and frightened at just how lazy, unprepared and
> nonchalant the current generation of college goers are.

Certainly. Yours was the same way. So was mine (I'm a professor whose
undergrad years were in the min 1980s).

I've been teaching at the university level for 20+ years, and I have seen some
changes. My students today are more likely to have full-time jobs, more likely
to have children, and more likely to have on-again-off-again college careers
as a result of these and other factors, than my peers were when I was in
school. It seems to me that they are also more likely to be stressed out and
feel overworked.

There are also cultural changes. Back in '83 when I was a freshman, you could
say, "The purpose of a university is to expose people to unfamiliar ideas" in
the student newspaper, and not get laughed at.

But as far as drive, intelligence, and motivation, it all looks about the same
to me.

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joshstrange
I have seen 0 inovation in college for as long I can remember. The
"inovations" they claim are: moving courses online, offering online "aids"
(Blackboard sucks), and my bigest pet peeve, making students pay for access to
online homework (With no offline alternative). All of these are just ways to
pump more money into the schools and to increase the teacher -> student ratio.

NONE of these actually help students, in fact I would argue that they make
them lazier.

I have yet to learn anything at college that has helped me with my job (Web
and mobile programming) and the CS classes my college offers are woefully
outdated, often by about 5-10 years.

I am in school for a piece of paper, I would gladly pay 25% more for tuition
if I could just buy my degree. College (In it's current state) is a waste of
time. The only advantage college has given me is my Fraternity which has
opened the doors to all sort of possibilities whereas my classes has done
nothing.

So to answer the question "Are college students learning?" The answer is
2-fold. * Are they learning anything in class? No, just enough to pass the
exam. * Are they learning other life lessons? Yes, IF they get involved on
campus in other ways (Greek life, student council, student activities board,
etc)

Going to college is no longer a ticket to a job, if you want to be successful
I would suggest going to college and getting the grades but focus on meeting
people, getting involved, expanding your network.

It's not what you know it's who you know, it doesn't matter if you have the
"next facebook" idea, if you don't know someone that can help you make it
happen it wont.

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rsanchez1
My experience as a student is that the vast majority are not learning. They're
just studying to pass an exam and get an A. One thing I've also noticed is
that (for Astronomy at least) the material covered in the introductory courses
are repeatedly covered in higher level courses. I guess if you study something
enough it will stick, but I have to wonder how well this prepares students for
post-college academic life.

