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The author says that students won't take science courses because the average GPA is lower. Well that isn't the reason -- this is merely a consequence of student

by psyklic 17y ago

The author says that students won't take science courses because the average GPA is lower. Well that isn't the reason -- this is merely a consequence of students perceiving science classes as harder and requiring more work. The solution should not be to make science classes easier or less work, but to increase the difficulty of humanities courses. The culture of hard work is important to establish, whether you are a humanities student OR a sciences student.

evanrmurphy 17y ago
The solution should also include making classes more interesting. That's another reason to avoid a class: it sounds boring. And what doesn't sound boring when it's in the context of signing away your time at specific hours every week for half a year and committing yourself to homework assignments and exams? I realize this isn't directly relevant to the trends in sciences vs. humanities, but it may be that when the whole paradigm is so dull people feel more incentivized to just choose the easiest path.
- psyklic 17y ago
  I suppose so, but frankly humanities classes will always be more interesting than science courses to many people because they relate more to our everyday lives (as ironic as that sounds, since science is all around us). As a science student, I routinely loaded my schedule with humanities courses and hardly had to spend time on them (for the most part). There is no good reason why these courses were so easy in comparison to science courses, in my opinion.
araneae 17y ago
Science classes require more work because the average GPA is lower. To get the same GPA in a science class as a humanities class, you have to do better than more people than you would otherwise, which means more work. And yes, I agree that decreasing the average GPA in humanities classes is better, but you're ignoring one thing; students are horrible complainers. If you give them a poor grade, they will whine and wheedle. If it's on a test, and their answers are demonstratively false, they have no room to argue. If it's a paper, they will plead and annoy you until the cows come home. Simply put, poor grades in a science class are much more defensible because science isn't as subjective. It's hard to grade hard in a humanities course.
- psyklic 17y ago
  That's why, just as in science courses, you need to be tough on grading throughout all of the student's courses. Of course, if one class grades harder, then students will complain. However, if grading is tough all-around, then that is what students will come to expect.

by psyklic 17y ago

evanrmurphy 17y ago

The solution should also include making classes more interesting. That's another reason to avoid a class: it sounds boring. And what doesn't sound boring when it's in the context of signing away your time at specific hours every week for half a year and committing yourself to homework assignments and exams? I realize this isn't directly relevant to the trends in sciences vs. humanities, but it may be that when the whole paradigm is so dull people feel more incentivized to just choose the easiest path.

psyklic 17y ago
I suppose so, but frankly humanities classes will always be more interesting than science courses to many people because they relate more to our everyday lives (as ironic as that sounds, since science is all around us). As a science student, I routinely loaded my schedule with humanities courses and hardly had to spend time on them (for the most part). There is no good reason why these courses were so easy in comparison to science courses, in my opinion.

araneae 17y ago

Science classes require more work because the average GPA is lower. To get the same GPA in a science class as a humanities class, you have to do better than more people than you would otherwise, which means more work. And yes, I agree that decreasing the average GPA in humanities classes is better, but you're ignoring one thing; students are horrible complainers. If you give them a poor grade, they will whine and wheedle. If it's on a test, and their answers are demonstratively false, they have no room to argue. If it's a paper, they will plead and annoy you until the cows come home. Simply put, poor grades in a science class are much more defensible because science isn't as subjective. It's hard to grade hard in a humanities course.

psyklic 17y ago
That's why, just as in science courses, you need to be tough on grading throughout all of the student's courses. Of course, if one class grades harder, then students will complain. However, if grading is tough all-around, then that is what students will come to expect.