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That was my impression as well. I love how, in one anecdote, he talks about how students "don't read" and puts the example that given they know they can get a B

That was my impression as well. I love how, in one anecdote, he talks about how students "don't read" and puts the example that given they know they can get a B without the book, don't bother; some how this is the students' fault. Just the selective blindness to it all, how can anyone be surprised that given no external nor internal motivation any human being is going to be arsed to go out of their way to do things. He is constantly complaining about "declining academic standards" but provides no quantitative evidence to back his claim. Grade inflation is likely a problem, simply because if one institution does it all are forced to inflate along with it or risk devaluing their degrees, but it's incredibly difficult to quantify. Incoming students have the higher standardized test scores, a huge belt of tools between the internet and computers, and an unprecedented network of peers for when the tools are sufficient. Should we surprised scores tend to rise, is it the university's responsibility to crank up the difficulty and keep averages as they were in the 80s? These are the questions dinosaurs like the OP can't and won't answer.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago
Huh. 18 out of 230 students bought the text they were studying. That sounds like statistics. 'C' grades for what used to be failing exams - more data. And rising test scores? In what universe is that happening? These are 2nd-tier liberal arts colleges at issue, not Stanford. Tool belt? Its nonsense to imagine googling a subject is as effective as learning it. That's twaddle, and any student who skates over their lack of education by faking papers from online resources is involved in a self-destructive sham. The paper is supposed to demonstrate a mastery of the subject. The paper is not the point. Producing a likely-looking one is not the point. Actually knowing the subject is the point.
- lordCarbonFiber 11y ago
  18 out of 230 bought bought a book, widely accessible and read by most in the early hs, from the over priced campus book store. FTFY. That's not statistics, that's just a single (unenlightening) data point. A personal anecdote about the fact the OP now feels his standards have dropped (providing no numbers for this nor writing samples so we the readership can appraise the truth of this claim) is also ~not~ statistics. As for rising test scores, unfortuantely for you and your "twaddle" most colleges maintain a factbook detailing past admissions data. Lets look at a couple of state schools from the worst part of the US shall we: Clemson University: [1] Engineering school 2014: ACT = 29 SAT_M = 674 SAT_V = 622 2004: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 655 SAT_V = 596 LiberalArts School 2014: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 610 SAT_V = 604 2004: ACT - 27 SAT_M = 606 SAT_V = 595 Auburn University:[2] Entire university 2014: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 591 SAT_V = 577 2006: ACT = 24.3 SAT_M = 575 SAT_V = 554 Francis Marion University[3] Entire Universtiy 2011: ACT = NaN SAT_M = 481 SAT_V 472 2004: ACT = NaN SAT_M 476 SAT_V 472 It appears you have to go down to at least the 76th ranked southern university[4] before the gains in test scores begin to look more like noise and even at that level there's a non 0 increase in performance. We're clearly not talking Standford here. Finally, the internet represents a tool because it allows for more mental bandwidth to be used on analysis over memory. No longer must you remember the exact quote to make an allusion, just the fact that it exists. This is then indexed to other supporting works a student can draw upon to further support their argument. Machines are excellent at recalling and storing information, however struggle with analysis (especially in the context of humanities). Students are more free than ever to peruse these lines of thinking, to demonstrate meaningful mastery you might say, now that names, dates, formatting, indexing, etc have been outsourced to the machine. Just for an example, when a blind blow hard comes and makes assertions comfortable his eloquence will make up for the lack of facts, the internet allows for the rapid synthesis of numbers to render the argument hilariously invalid. [1]http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/FB/factbook/minifactbook.cgi http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/FB/factbook/minifactbook.cgi [2]https://oira.auburn.edu/ https://oira.auburn.edu/ [3]http://www.fmarion.edu/about/factbook/article12711c7605652.htm http://www.fmarion.edu/about/factbook/article12711c7605652.h... [4]http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/francis-marion-university-218061/overall-rankings http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/... EDIT: number formatting
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Thanks for the analysis! We can only hope that the SAT is not also inflating. Oh! They did! SAT was redesigned and rescaled in 2005 to 'reflect today's high school curriculum'. And that whole debacle over the written exam part. So I'm not sure how much we can learn from comparing scores before vs after that watershed year. But ok accept that scores might be going up. The meat of the OP's rant was, college is no longer a place of learning but instead a place of 'earning'. The degree is what matters, and nobody is expected to actually learn, master, internalize subjects particularly in the liberal arts which are termed 'fluff'. That is an argument worth examining. Notwithstanding the codgerness of the ranter, and his evident desperation at being ignored and shouted down for a decade.
- sandworm101 11y ago
  >> The paper is not the point. Producing a likely-looking one is not the point. Actually knowing the subject is the point. Tell that to the people handing out the grades/scholarships/acceptance letters. Students today see assignments as hurdles, not opportunities for learning. At school today the first and most relevant question is always "But will this be on the exam?" If no, then the activity is dismissed as a waste of time.

JoeAltmaier 11y ago

Huh. 18 out of 230 students bought the text they were studying. That sounds like statistics. 'C' grades for what used to be failing exams - more data. And rising test scores? In what universe is that happening? These are 2nd-tier liberal arts colleges at issue, not Stanford. Tool belt? Its nonsense to imagine googling a subject is as effective as learning it. That's twaddle, and any student who skates over their lack of education by faking papers from online resources is involved in a self-destructive sham. The paper is supposed to demonstrate a mastery of the subject. The paper is not the point. Producing a likely-looking one is not the point. Actually knowing the subject is the point.

lordCarbonFiber 11y ago
18 out of 230 bought bought a book, widely accessible and read by most in the early hs, from the over priced campus book store. FTFY. That's not statistics, that's just a single (unenlightening) data point. A personal anecdote about the fact the OP now feels his standards have dropped (providing no numbers for this nor writing samples so we the readership can appraise the truth of this claim) is also ~not~ statistics. As for rising test scores, unfortuantely for you and your "twaddle" most colleges maintain a factbook detailing past admissions data. Lets look at a couple of state schools from the worst part of the US shall we: Clemson University: [1] Engineering school 2014: ACT = 29 SAT_M = 674 SAT_V = 622 2004: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 655 SAT_V = 596 LiberalArts School 2014: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 610 SAT_V = 604 2004: ACT - 27 SAT_M = 606 SAT_V = 595 Auburn University:[2] Entire university 2014: ACT = 27 SAT_M = 591 SAT_V = 577 2006: ACT = 24.3 SAT_M = 575 SAT_V = 554 Francis Marion University[3] Entire Universtiy 2011: ACT = NaN SAT_M = 481 SAT_V 472 2004: ACT = NaN SAT_M 476 SAT_V 472 It appears you have to go down to at least the 76th ranked southern university[4] before the gains in test scores begin to look more like noise and even at that level there's a non 0 increase in performance. We're clearly not talking Standford here. Finally, the internet represents a tool because it allows for more mental bandwidth to be used on analysis over memory. No longer must you remember the exact quote to make an allusion, just the fact that it exists. This is then indexed to other supporting works a student can draw upon to further support their argument. Machines are excellent at recalling and storing information, however struggle with analysis (especially in the context of humanities). Students are more free than ever to peruse these lines of thinking, to demonstrate meaningful mastery you might say, now that names, dates, formatting, indexing, etc have been outsourced to the machine. Just for an example, when a blind blow hard comes and makes assertions comfortable his eloquence will make up for the lack of facts, the internet allows for the rapid synthesis of numbers to render the argument hilariously invalid. [1]http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/FB/factbook/minifactbook.cgi http://www.clemson.edu/oirweb1/FB/factbook/minifactbook.cgi [2]https://oira.auburn.edu/ https://oira.auburn.edu/ [3]http://www.fmarion.edu/about/factbook/article12711c7605652.htm http://www.fmarion.edu/about/factbook/article12711c7605652.h... [4]http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/francis-marion-university-218061/overall-rankings http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/... EDIT: number formatting
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Thanks for the analysis! We can only hope that the SAT is not also inflating. Oh! They did! SAT was redesigned and rescaled in 2005 to 'reflect today's high school curriculum'. And that whole debacle over the written exam part. So I'm not sure how much we can learn from comparing scores before vs after that watershed year. But ok accept that scores might be going up. The meat of the OP's rant was, college is no longer a place of learning but instead a place of 'earning'. The degree is what matters, and nobody is expected to actually learn, master, internalize subjects particularly in the liberal arts which are termed 'fluff'. That is an argument worth examining. Notwithstanding the codgerness of the ranter, and his evident desperation at being ignored and shouted down for a decade.
sandworm101 11y ago
>> The paper is not the point. Producing a likely-looking one is not the point. Actually knowing the subject is the point. Tell that to the people handing out the grades/scholarships/acceptance letters. Students today see assignments as hurdles, not opportunities for learning. At school today the first and most relevant question is always "But will this be on the exam?" If no, then the activity is dismissed as a waste of time.