Thursday, March 10, 2011

College: The Easy Way



Read this article in the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/opinion/05herbert.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
Respond in one paragraph as a comment. Be prepared to discuss this in class.

21 comments:

  1. Deair Herron

    Many students attending college do not value their education. They do the minimum amount of work in their classes to pass. Most students attend college for the worng reasons. They attend college to get away from their parents and party. When students do graduate from college, over 50% of them have not retained over half the materials they studied in their classes and have barely passed the exit exam.

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  2. Lawrence Christy

    I completely agree with the argument being made in this article. I know first hand that I am not as serious about school as I should be. I am also not challenged as much as i had expected to be, going into a university. We have no drive to do better and work harder causing us to not be prepared for the future that is to come. I believe that universities should put more pressure on student ad maybe decrease the amount of distractions on college campuses.

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  3. Jude Chibuzo Mgbanwunne.

    The article does bring light to a prevailing phenomenon. But I think the society is more to blame for this in-apt than the students and the academic institutions. My opinion is based on the fact that in most cases, a persons behavior or character is modeled by the environment he finds himself in. It's evident that frivolousness is highly promoted in the society by certain laws, and in the form of entertainment by the mass media. Now, if individuals have been programmed by the society to consider quality education and other norms as trifling; how does it expect the same individual to act or perform otherwise? Academic institutions are unable to implement very strict and advanced academic curriculum and standards because, if they do; most individuals who where, or are currently student would not have made it to college at all. If the later is the case, nemesis abounds; "as such, the society cannot afford to have lots of illiterates around." Again, the education sector will experience very little growth without the millions of students on its campuses today. The economy and the entire country will be adversely affected too. So in order to avoid all this quagmire; the education sector decided to set up a system that will allow in-apt students to gain a degree in accordance with their state of mind. By applying this system, in-apt students are giving a chance to be absorbed into the society where they are retrained or educated more in their various disciplines. Never-the-less, the system also permits austere students to get a quality education that will enable them to lead the future. Finally, in parallel with my prior statement, the society is more to blame with the inaptness of students.; and one of the most effective ways to change or annihilate this inaptness, is to get the correct information across; via the mass media.

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  4. Scheleda Grimes

    Through the years college has not been taken seriously as it was in the past. For the professors and the students they have lacked the motivation to set standards high for students and students for their selves. Most of the time students entering college, the first thing comes to their mind is how much “fun” they are going to have. Activities for example like playing sports, going to the games, fraternities & sororities, partying, meeting new people, etc. The academic role seems to come second in students mind. Due to the students lacking the seriousness towards their academics studies it brings the professors to be less motivated. If professor grades papers with poor writing skills or fewer students coming to class they are going to get less motivated year by year. This article has a lot of strong points regarding college students having less critical thinking and complex writing skills. I truly agree that students are trying to take the easier way out of college and not concentrating on the importance of college for their future.

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  5. Leo Wright

    I agree with the article because it is true that students do not put forth the effort they used to. Everyday our fellow students find a way to cheat and get around difficult exams and tasks. I believe that our generation of partying, playing games, and procrastination is driven by our obsession with technology, socializing and always wanting to have a good time. Another contribution could be that teachers have also made classes simpler by giving a lot of bonus points, giving easier tests, and basically doing more extra things to aid the students more than they should. But I also believe that students are developing skills but not the skills the universities want them to develop. Students do work hard but they are putting effort in the wrong thing. Students are putting their time and work into finding ways to cheat and make things easier, when they could put those efforts into their studies. Students also know that although their major may not be difficult, if they go to a college that has an excelllent department for their major, then when they graduate, their employers will pay attention to where they got their degree from and not their GPA or work ethic during school.

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  6. Desmond Fernandez

    I absolutely agree with the article. This lack of seriousness in academics is an issue of concern. Students are majoring in easy fields because most don’t have the knowledge of what else is out there. Their parents, siblings, or somebody majored in a field and they are following in others footsteps. They might, like me, believe they cannot obtain a degree in such a rigorous field. Maybe, like me, they are just looking for the easy way out. Unlike me, not everyone has someone to push or encourage them to do better and they continue to think the way I was. Furthermore, they go throughout their collegiate career with such negative thinking. I think high schools should inform students about different careers before entering college and the students should get better counseling in high school and college.

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  7. Shaina Craige

    Bob Hebert makes very good point in this article. I believe that the value of education holds little to no value in the world today. Due to this, students no longer take higher education seriously. College life is more so associated with party life than with academics. Yet with the not so challenging exams professors give us students, they are making it more than easy to concentrate more so on social life and still get away with it.

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  8. SHAYLA EDWARDS

    According to the article the cost of college has skyrocketed which is very true in my opinion. The question they asked was “What are American kids learning in school these days?” Unfortunately, that answer was not much, which in my opinion is true. The article goes on to quote proffessors Richard Arum & Josipa Roska by saying, “Many students come to college not only poorly prepared by prior schooling for highly demanding academic tasks that ideally lie in front of them, but more troubling still, they enter college with attitudes.”

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  9. Simone Bray

    I feel that college students are taking the wrong approach to academics. They put their schoolwork second and social life first. The article says that a four year degree is supposed to be a big accomplishment but it seems that students take that for granted and do the bare minimum to pass. This will only hurt them in the future when they cannot perform in the field that they majored in. And even though they obtained their degree they will realize that they failed in excelling in their area. They might be able to get a job with their resumes but they won't be able to perform they way they are expected to. They will probably lose their job and it will be harder to get a new one. I think colleges should raise the standard or give incentives to students who perform above the standard to encourage students to do better

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  10. I agree that some college students attend college for the wrong reasons but that is not the whole student population. Some students do the minimum just to pass but maybe they are not doing the minimum maybe their prior education doesn’t prepare them for college. Maybe they don’t understand the lesson. Also students have different ways of retaining information. Most students don’t like to study alone because they may get bored or because they really didn’t understand the lesson in the first place. They may also learn by hands on experiences, which they won’t receive until after college. In order to know exactly what a college student has achieved in college I think a study should be conducted about their preparation for college.

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  11. Myron Lawson

    I can speak from personal experience that this article is very true at college campuses. I see it often here. Students come to school mostly to socialize and to have a good time, and they forget about their academics. The same people often times try to then blame professors, when they are too tired, from partying the night before, to get up and go to class. This is probably from not being prepared for all of the freedom that college offers. High schools do not prepare students like they should for college.

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  12. Generia Vaughn
    I believe that this article hit the nail on the head. Students do not value their education. Students are more concerned about everyday issues and partying. There are also easier majors and people take advantage of that. They want the easy way out. College is starting to be too much freedom. Your grades can easily slip and when that starts to happen people are not as interested as before. They leave when they want to and come when they want to. High school to me, prepares people for college,but some people just don't apply themselves. From experience my high school teachers were tough on me and they guided me in the right direction.

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  13. Alan Shaw Jr.
    Personally, I do agree with this topic. My academics do not come first, but my social life isnt first either. My job is number one on my priority list. Unlike many college students, I dont stay on campus, nor do I have parents who take care of me. I have to work for everything. This is different because Im not at all the parties, Im at work, but I still dont have school number 1. High school sets the foundation for learning, but does not prepare you for the real world.

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  14. Cathy Baker

    In today's society education isn't valued like it used to be. Now, students rather take the easy way out rather than work hard and increase their knowledge. Students today aren't as challenged which causes them not to even try or care. Not just that students don't even come to school for the betterment of themselves any more. But is it all there fault, no it is more than just the students to blame, somewhere along the line the past generations have dropped the ball.

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  15. Christine Baker

    In this article Bob Herbert makes an excellent statement about how college expectations have drop. In today's society majority of college students are beginning to study less and less. Instead, they prefer to have fun and place school as one of their last priorities. However, even though college students are slacking when it comes to their higher education in college, the professors also share apart of the blame. Professors are not teaching their students the qualifications and skills they need at the college level to succeed. As college students we expect a lot out of our professors, but unfortunately many of the professors are unable to meet our expectations. In order to overcome this challenge both professors and students must work together to help each other improve.

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  16. Andrea Trahan

    As a college student, I strongly agree with the argument. Some students come to college to "get away" from home and be free to do whatever it is that they desire. What most of them dont realize is that freedom come with responsibility. In college, nobody is going to wake you up for class, your professors won't have a care in the world if you make it to class or not, and nobody is going to nag you to do your work. Some students don't think about the consequences of their decsions and how it will affect society in the future. However, some professors need to give students the extra "push" that they need to be successful...meet them halfway in the classroom.
    Some students' academic performances depend on the teaching environment. If the environment of the classroom is nonessential for learning, then the students may or may not attempt to do the work. So basically, both the students and professors are responsible for the outcome of our future society.

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  17. Larrimi Williams

    I most certainly agree with the argument in this article. Getting a degree is easier, less time consuming, and requires hardly any effort. Indeed a vast majority of students are less focused with academic performance and more focused on the college experience which includes minimum education. However, the students share the blame with society and the professors. Society says that, "College is the best time of your life." Which explains why many college students took the saying literally and are more engaged in partying and having fun and spending little time on what's really important, education! Also many professors today do not challenge their students in such ways that bring out their best efforts. This causes the students to not care and do just enough to get by.

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  18. Dray Joseph

    There are some valid points in the article but there are some points I dont agree with. Obtaining a degree is not all that easy as he was making it seem. It depends on what your major is and the types of instructors you have in that discipline. I am an Engineering major and the calculus classes and physics classes that im taking now are not easy and require a immense amout of studying and commitment.

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  19. Shekaydra Green

    I absoloutely agree with the author's point of view on this subject. Higher Education is not taken as seriously today as it once was because obtaining a degree is easier and does not require very much effort. Students are not developing the skills that are need in the work force because they are breezing through college without actually learning anything. This problem does not only affect students individually, it will eventually affect our country's economy and ability to compete with other countries.

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  20. I agree with what the man in the article is trying to say. I know plenty of college students who just try to glide through college with C's. I personally try, but I know I am not trying at the best of my ability. But it is also a professor's duty to engage the young minds of the students. But some teachers just feel as if all they need to do is assign work and the student will learn.

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  21. Lee Mitchell

    The man is basically saying that our educational system is hurting itself by not making the process of getting a higher education more rigorous. Compared to other countries he feels like we are failing each other in the global market. With the less active student of today become our ignorant presidents and congress members of tomorrow, he is worried that this might reshape America if not the world.

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