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>"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about com
by awad 18y ago
>"Non-stop competition" against what? Most of the students in the harder courses care more about helping each-other understand difficult material than about competing.
I was referring to the competition to get into the coveted few spots available at the top schools in the country. Granted, it's always been competitive, but it only gets more competitive with larger and larger class sizes
- jacobolus 18y agoAh, fair enough. A few things: First, such competition is on such a massive scale that local competition against classmates, &c., is harmful. Indeed, I think even thinking about college admissions as zero-sum is counterproductive. I also still think most of such pressure and competition are self imposed, and frankly often a misdirection of effort and attention: students who care about learning for its own sake and spend effort on what they're curious about and have enough free time to pursue those interests (clearly some who have a language barrier, and must take part time jobs to feed younger siblings, etc. are at a disadvantage here) will manage to get into a decent college somewhere (there are so many fantastic ones!). Then again, I'm rather less motivated by grades/prestige/promises of future salary/etc. than most students around here.