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They covered this; it's sort of a rational choice, in the sense that since college is required for everyone, kids just want their certification. You or I might

They covered this; it's sort of a rational choice, in the sense that since college is required for everyone, kids just want their certification. You or I might not like this attitude (I don't) but it's not altogether surprising, is it? Perhaps with the ascendance of such as standardized testing, you just want to get the "right" answers with the least effort. I was like this in high school (solid B student b/c lazy), but for whatever reason, I grew out of it in college and have since reacquainted myself with the joy of learning. I can understand why the whole thing might seem like a joke, especially if everyone around you feels the same way. Maybe we should ask questions about why kids' expectations are what they are. I'll bet you they're a lagging indicator of some characteristic(s) of our educational system. As I said upthread, as adults we're beholden to them for making sure they turn out OK. To put it charitably, it's misguided to blame kids for the results of adult decisions.

orclev 13y ago
I've always enjoyed learning, but I despised school and most college courses. Thankfully I'm an autodidact and don't need the school system to learn or else I'm afraid I wouldn't know much of anything. The public school system is in shambles and can barely be counted on to teach the most fundamental of curriculum let alone more advanced courses that should function as the foundation of future college learning. The university system in contrast is less interested in teaching any particular thing than it is in wringing every last cent of tuition out of each student before they either drop out, flunk out, or somehow manage to navigate the various flaming hoops and traps the university's have erected to stand between students and their eventual departure from them. Nominally the various classes are supposed to provide an opportunity to learn, but in practice they're little more than a set of speed-bumps designed to prolong the amount of time a given student spends at the university. To that end it's really in the best interest of the university to do as little actual teaching they can as opposed to as much testing as possible, and it's largely reflected in the curriculum of many professors. Once you've cleared the bar of the bachelors however things change somewhat. With most students leaving after attaining a bachelors (or a masters in the case of business students, and a PhD in the case of medical students), those left are destined to become faculty (or at least attempt to become faculty) and to take part in the other major fundraising activity in the university system, the attaining of grants. At this point the emphasis shifts from delaying attainment of your degree to press-ganging you into becoming a cog in the grant generating departments. In the post-grad track you're only as good to the university as the grant dollars you're helping to bring in. Ultimately the problem boils down to the shift in emphasis of universities from places of higher learning, to businesses geared around extracting maximum profit from each individual customer in exchange for a largely meaningless paper that HR departments around the country still have a fetishistic devotion to.

orclev 13y ago

I've always enjoyed learning, but I despised school and most college courses. Thankfully I'm an autodidact and don't need the school system to learn or else I'm afraid I wouldn't know much of anything. The public school system is in shambles and can barely be counted on to teach the most fundamental of curriculum let alone more advanced courses that should function as the foundation of future college learning. The university system in contrast is less interested in teaching any particular thing than it is in wringing every last cent of tuition out of each student before they either drop out, flunk out, or somehow manage to navigate the various flaming hoops and traps the university's have erected to stand between students and their eventual departure from them. Nominally the various classes are supposed to provide an opportunity to learn, but in practice they're little more than a set of speed-bumps designed to prolong the amount of time a given student spends at the university. To that end it's really in the best interest of the university to do as little actual teaching they can as opposed to as much testing as possible, and it's largely reflected in the curriculum of many professors. Once you've cleared the bar of the bachelors however things change somewhat. With most students leaving after attaining a bachelors (or a masters in the case of business students, and a PhD in the case of medical students), those left are destined to become faculty (or at least attempt to become faculty) and to take part in the other major fundraising activity in the university system, the attaining of grants. At this point the emphasis shifts from delaying attainment of your degree to press-ganging you into becoming a cog in the grant generating departments. In the post-grad track you're only as good to the university as the grant dollars you're helping to bring in. Ultimately the problem boils down to the shift in emphasis of universities from places of higher learning, to businesses geared around extracting maximum profit from each individual customer in exchange for a largely meaningless paper that HR departments around the country still have a fetishistic devotion to.