

Why College is Frustrating - csmeder
http://chris.smeder.com/essays/1_college.htm

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patio11
I don't know what kind of college you were at, but it may have an organization
with a euphemistic name that suggests it is not engaged in teaching remedial
skills which teaches remedial skills. Ours was the Academic Resource Center, I
think. I don't know if we had anyone who specialized in teaching hand writing,
largely because I don't think hand writing was a deliverable anywhere in
school, but we certainly taught study habits, time management, and the math
students should have learned in high school.

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csmeder
The reason I said hand writing is important is that it helps with situations
such as:

\- 4 page long differential equations

\- 4 page long physics problems

\- physics lab (note book)

\- taking readable notes quickly

My guess is that hand writing is a lot more important to ones ability to work
effectively than most people realize. I could be wrong.

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pjw1187
I could not agree more. At my university there was suppose to be a place for
undergraduates to research and work together, but sadly the unviersity turned
it into a conference room. Most of my friends in CS that are terrible
programmers were simply never taught the proper way to program or even
remotely how to tackle a problem. Its sad to tutor other students and they
understand the problem but they have no idea where to start or how to
implement a solution. I think CS programs should definately teach how to
problem solve as opposed to just finish the project for the grade. My parents
enforced good study habits in me and it is apparent in my friends/roommates
that did not have it instilled in them. If universities did teach students how
to study and manage time I am sure a lot of the "bad" students would be right
on up there. Lastly I also find it very hard to believe how many crappy
professors are still allowed to teach. In fact I had one professor in a basic
studies class say "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT ME! CALL ME AN ASSHOLE! IM
TENURE! I DON'T CARE!". I've also had professors that simply cannot teach at
all. You could look around the room and see blank stairs on everyones face and
yet the professor just keeps on going...

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jseliger
So far, this article and all the comments here are missing the main point,
which isn't identifying the problem; a gazillion people in the Chronicle of
Higher Education have said virtually the same thing at various times.

The real problem is solving the problem, which requires changing the
incentives that drive professors. At the moment, hiring and tenure decisions
at virtually all universities (and all the big ones you've heard of) are made
mostly on research and publication. Teaching simply doesn't count for much.
Therefore, the people who succeed in getting hired and getting tenured
optimize for what they're being judged on: research and publication. Teaching
is secondary.

Once you've realized this incentive problem, the question becomes, "How do you
change the incentives?" I have no good answers for that, but it's the real
question you should be asking if you're genuinely interested.

(EDIT: And, by the way, I'm a grad student at a big public school. I get to
hear about this kind of stuff all the time.)

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potatolicious
Do we really _want_ to change the incentives? One of the most (read: only)
compelling things I found about college was being close to people who did
"real work". These were professors and researchers at the very bleeding edge
of their field - and I got a front row seat to interact, learn from, and
observe their work. I think that, in the end, is part of the college
experience.

In high school I was often frustrated, since it was far too easy to "max out"
the knowledge of my teachers, and certainly none of them were working experts
in their respective fields. This never happened in university - I have never,
to date, been able to get to a point where I'm thinking well ahead of the
prof, or even close.

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lleger
I agree with that college is frustrating, although I disagree that the problem
lies within lack of facilities or failure to teach proper study techniques or
handwriting skills. Rather I think the pervasive problem with contemporary
pedagogy is that it has turned, largely, into an enterprising, profiteering
business. With that shift, educational institutions switched their focus from
graduating good, prepared students to focusing on obtaining large grants for
research projects—research projects that bring in far more than a student's
tuition.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning that one basic that everyone should be
taught is grammar. Not to be a jerk here, but you'd be more effective in
communicating your point if it wasn't littered with grammatical errors.

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csmeder
"Also, I think it's worth mentioning that one basic that everyone should be
taught is grammar. Not to be a jerk here, but you'd be more effective in
communicating your point if it wasn't littered with grammatical errors."

Your not being a jerk. I agree. I think I might need to buy "Eats, Shoots &
Leaves". This is the first essay/blog I have submitted to the world and it is
helping me remember my grammar sucks.

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blahedo
Well, some colleges do just what you say---teaching writing and study skills
to the students who need it. But in my experience, a _lot_ of the students
_have_ been taught study skills in the past, but it never stuck because they
didn't really need them yet... and in those cases getting a bad or mediocre
grade really is just the swift kick they need.

As for reinventing the wheel, are you suggesting that the professors should
try to grab someone else's slides and lectures and teach from them? I promise
that this does not work very well. Aside from being drier and less engaging to
read someone else's stuff, it means that they aren't tailored to the prof and
to the class. And a good chalkboard lecture beats slides any day, anyhow.

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csmeder
I'm not sure what the solution is. I do know I would have preferred something
similar to <http://www.lynda.com> for maybe 30% of my classes with access to
tutors and study groups. At least 30% of my classes we taught very poorly and
high quality videos would have been an improvement.

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theprodigy
Who cares if college is frustrating. Stop being a victim. I had the worse
teachers, but I did whatever it took to get an A. I didn't care if the teacher
didn't have an interesting teaching style i put that aside and tried to learn
the material he/she taught. In college, you need the "superficial" good grades
just to get your foot in the door.I was autodidactic and learned all the
things that really interested me in college on my own. People need to stop
being wimps and try harder.

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dill_day
"Yes, I am saying colleges should teach study habits, time management and hand
writing."

I agree these are good things, but shouldn't they be taught before college?

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csmeder
In my experience most of the time they are not. You either win the parent
lottery or don't. Many college students are missing the basics. It's
embarrassing, possibly confusing but true.

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Feynman
Article aside, I really dig the format of your blog. It's refreshing to see
straight text without 5000 "promote-me" buttons and misc other bullshit.

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mquander
Can you please proofread your writing, or at least run a spellchecker on it,
before presenting it to the world? There are multiple spelling and grammatical
errors in each paragraph, and it's pretty much completely distracting.

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csmeder
Sorry, I wrote it in vim with no spell check. I have now fixed the spelling
errors. Grammar is one of those basics that I have never learned. I will try
to look it over again.

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rcfox
Doesn't vim have ispell support?

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xenoterracide
More than Handwriting I think they should teach shorthand for note taking.

