"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education" (Albert Einstein). Today, college classes are furthest from the minds of the very students enrolled in them; their curiosity and thirst for knowledge is dwindling. There is more importance placed on the interactions, parties, and other dorm life experiences than the degree needed for a successful career. In Rebekah Nathan's article, "Academically Speaking.." she explores the apathy that students feel towards college classes and suggests that the current structure places too much emphasis on personal experience. This system affords too much freedom to students by allowing them to decide what information is most relevant. Nathan voices many valid concerns surrounding the notion that classes are not as important as they once were. She correctly fears that the devolution of college's traditional learning ambition leads to a loss of class participation, preparation, and ultimately matriculation.
Nathan performed many observational studies that compelled her to voice the disparity between the formal and informal areas of college life. The "undergraduate worldview" (112) is composed of an in-class, intellectual side that goes vastly unnoticed beside the behemoth that entails living in an environment filled with thousands of young adults. The partying, dorm life, and other non-school sanctioned aspects of living in unsupervised quarters encompass both a student’s time and mental capacities. She found that a majority of conversations surrounded topics of sports, the opposite sex, and TV shows. They find solace in the communal suffrage of going to class and seldom discuss how difficult classes can be. This demeans the intellectual side of college by turning the topic against cl...
... middle of paper ...
...d uses its appeal to make the student engaged. Students respond well when class discussion is open and formal. All too often, teachers design their lectures to. Students respond well when class discussion is open and formal. All too often, teachers design their lectures with the mindset that they need to facilitate their job through PowerPoint presentations and long lectures with little student interaction. There is something to be said about the accessibility of professors being approachable; however, having a class discussion that operates well creates the small interactive community both inside and out of the classroom. Ultimately, universities have the opportunity to mold the rather plastic minds of young adults; they need to be willing to take a hard look at how they instruct their students and offer new and invigorating teaching techniques in their classes.
Rick Perlstein states in his article, "What's the Matter with College?" that college should be a time of self-discovery. He thinks of college as a gateway into to adulthood where everyone is suddenly gaining this new sense of freedom and finding their own identity. It was a time one to read their first banned book and see their first independent film. Perlstein seems to consider one's college years as the most defining years of their life. Today, however, students do not have the luxury of attending an institution solely in the name of self-exploration. The college experience is indeed different from what it once was, much to Perlstein's chagrin. No longer are students going to college for the college experience that was once known by past generations, instead, they are going for the opportunities promised by attending college.
As Zig Ziglar once said, "If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you." Basically, Ziglar is emphasizing how learning can be accomplished, only if you put your mind to it. In “Learning (Your First Job),” Dr. Robert Leamnson shares his strong belief of beginning students entering the post-secondary education. Leamnnson discusses the many ways of learning that can be used in college, such as studying, notes, assignments, and exams. Leamnson continuously discusses how no one will learn unless they want to. Learning is a biological process that relies on the brain. Just like how our bodies need maintenance, the brain does too. College is a place where you learn things that help you later. Leamnson mentions how students are responsible for succeeding in college not by just showing up, but by putting in effort towards the classes they are taking. In order to succeed in the learning of the post-secondary education process, students should be aware of how to make notes, understand what they are studying, and take assignments seriously.
Edmundson was considered one of the “interesting” teachers because of the fact he would tell jokes in order to keep the students interested, since it was the one way he figured worked; however, he did not “teach to amuse…or for that matter, to be merely interesting” (Edmundson, Greene-Lidinsky 390). College students get to pick their professors and they have to ability to find out if the professor is to their liking, or else they can just drop the class and/or find a better-suited professor. Edmundson felt as though the student’s “passion seems to be spent,” and that “university culture” is becoming more and more “devoted to consumption and entertainment” (Edmundson, Greene-Lidinsky 391). Furthermore, colleges make it even worse due to the fact that they make the campuses beautiful in order to attract students to apply, so students attend those campuses imagining that the classes will be just as
In her article, “Lecture Me. Really”, Molly Worthen addresses the issue college students know all too well: how to lecture properly. Published in the New York Times, Worthen writes a passionate article about lecturing but from the perspective of a professor. Worthen presents the idea that lecturing, although some may think ineffective in the classroom, is a way to truly challenge and engage students into critically thinking. Worth dictates this idea with an excellent build up logical argument but lacks the proper evidence to support her claims creating a faulty argument.
...ild, when he would hide and daydream, up until his first years of college, when he would avoid areas that were difficult, the author recognized that there was important link between challenging the student on a meaningful level and the degree to which the student eventually produced. “I felt stupid telling them I was… well – stupid.” (Rose 43) Here, Rose shows an example of how poor preparation and low standards in the classroom can make a student feel inadequate. Indeed, one can see how many things seemingly unrelated do affect a student’s ability to learn.
In Jennie Capo Crucet 's essay, “Taking My Parents To College,” Crucet describes her own experience as a freshman college student who was faced with many challenges that were unknown to her, as well as the cluelessness of what the beginning of her freshman year would look like. I felt like the biggest impression Crucet left on me while I was reading her essay, was the fact that I can relate to her idea of the unknown of college life. Throughout her essay, she described her personal experiences, and the factors one might face as a freshman college student which involved the unknown and/or uncertainty of what this new chapter would bring starting freshman year of college. Crucet’s essay relates to what most of us
Policymakers pushed for the reconstruction of college financing models, into what we now have today, as a profitable student loan market has emerged (Rossi). Although Edmundson agrees that colleges and universities do not offer today what they once were envisioned to, his opinion on why greatly differs from an emerging possibility. Edmundson in his essay outlines a student body, wholeheartedly content with an education system created entirely for show, rather than the widening of perspective, as a liberal arts education was once meant to do. When detailing student responses to his teachings, Edmundson writes that, “most of all I dislike the attitude of calm consumer expertise that pervades the responses. I 'm disturbed by the serene belief that my function -- and, more important, Freud 's, or Shakespeare 's, or Blake 's -- is to divert, entertain, and interest.” The interest of the students, in the opinion of Edmundson, is supremely consumerist in nature, as defined by their inability to “see intellectual work as a confrontation between two people, student and author, where the stakes matter. ” He goes on to argue that, “university culture, like
Loh explains that not every college professor is properly taught how to give a lecture, making it difficult for students to get the correct education from a professor who isn’t trained to explain the material. Various colleges and universities are starting to stray away from the traditional lecture and begin a more hands on approach to teaching a college course, while professors are looking to get rid of the college lecture completely. A research study showed classes that had an interactive approach as opposed to the traditional style resulted in better academic grades and a “36 percent drop in class failures.” Many educators prefer
How imperative is it that one pursues a traditional college experience? Although it might appear that Charles Murray and Liz Addison are in agreement that the traditional college experience is not necessary for everyone, Addison provides a more convincing argument that higher education is necessary in some form. This is seen through Addison’s arguments that college is essential to growing up, that education is proportional to the life one lives, and that community college reinvents the traditional college experience. Not only does Addison have her own opinions about college, but Murray does as well.
I have often wondered what it would be like to experience the freedom of choosing my own class schedule. This has to be infinitely more stimulating and enjoyable. I am also aware that college will be significantly more challenging, but I have always found it easier to study for a class that interests me. I am willing to accept the fact that as long as I am in school, there will be required courses which may not engender excitement or enthusiasm; however, success should not be as difficult to achieve due to the maturity that is developing during this last year of high school. In addition, I have gained an understanding of the benefit of being well rounded. There is value in all classes taken. It helps to know that even my least favorite subject will contribute to the ultimate goal of personal and career development.
In Paul Toughmay’s “Who Gets to Graduate,” he follows a young first year college student, Vanessa Brewer, explaining her doubts, fears, and emotions while starting her college journey. As a student, at the University of Texas Brewer feels small and as if she doesn’t belong. Seeking advice from her family she calls her mom but after their conversation Brewer feels even more discouraged. Similar to Brewer I have had extreme emotions, doubts, and fears my freshman year in college.
Although most of his evaluations are favorable, he was fearful of the comments that his class was also enjoyable; Edmundson doesn’t teach to amuse nor interest. He possesses the genuine passion of spreading knowledge resulting in hearing the students talk of how the course changed them as a person, an individual. (Edmundson, p.390). Addressing the culture of the university Edmundson believes they are more devoted to the consumer consumption and entertainment values. The quality of education is declining due to giving the consumer what they want, rather what they need. Higher learning is shifting towards a society that is sophisticated with technology. The marketing side of decisions that are made with the finances and education are primarily for money being placed their pockets and making sure it stays there due to their tenure and permanent seats. They will always have a job, but what about the decisions for the quality of the education? Or having to cover the expenses of staying current with the newest technology and amenities as well? In order to keep balance in all of this the school will usually raise tuition which causes a chain reaction of rising costs for everything. With the rise of costs, school becomes undesirable to the students who aren’t able to afford it, or the ones who go into debt
Due to the effects of higher enrolment, teaching methods are now directed towards suiting the masses, thus everything has become less personal, as well as, less educationally in depth. Teaching techniques consist of multiple choice tests, rather than written answer questions which require critical analysis, as Jacobs states “So many papers to mark, relative to numbers and qualities of mentors to mark them, changed the nature of test papers. Some came to consist of “True or False?” and “Which of the following is correct?” types of questions” (Jacobs 49). While teachers also no longer engage in one on one conversations with students, but merely in a lecture hall among masses and everyone is seen as just a student number. Jacobs states a complaint from a student “who claimed they were shortchanged in education. They had expected more personal rapport with teachers” (Jacobs 47). Universities are too much focused on the cost benefit analysis, of the problem of increased enrolment, with the mind set of “quantity trumps quality” (Jacobs 49). The benefit of student education and learning is not being put first, but rather the expansion of the university to benefit financial issues. Taylor states “individualism and the expansion of instrumental reason, have often been accounted for as by-products
College is not the end of the journey. Students need to be reminded constantly that their learning will continue on into their careers and life. All the learning activities and assignments are simply a foundation for the skill of the lifelong learner. The instructor simply points them out and directs the student.
Many students go to college expecting to just attend their classes and absorb the information thrown at them only to forget it all after the final. Although some of the content taught may not be of any importance later in life, the lessons outside of the classroom is. From learning how to live with other people to debating on whether to write that essay today or tomorrow, college is a constant learning experience. In Freeman Hrabowski’s article College Prepares People for Life, he discusses how many students are unprepared for life post diploma because universities and colleges don’t provide enough counseling to educate to students on how to function after. I disagree with his statement and believe that he is undermining the real lessons students