Posted on 12/24/2008 12:35:29 PM PST by Zack Nguyen
...I work at colleges of last resort. For many of my students, college was not a goal they spent years preparing for, but a place they landed in. Those I teach don’t come up in the debates about adolescent overachievers and cutthroat college admissions. Mine are the students whose applications show indifferent grades and have blank spaces where the extracurricular activities would go. They chose their college based not on the U.S. News & World Report rankings but on MapQuest; in their ideal academic geometry, college is located at a convenient spot between work and home. I can relate, for it was exactly this line of thinking that dictated where I sent my teaching résumé.
...A few weeks into the semester, the students must start actually writing papers, and I must start grading them. Despite my enthusiasm, despite their thoughtful nods of agreement and what I have interpreted as moments of clarity, it turns out that in many cases it has all come to naught.
Remarkably few of my students can do well in these classes. Students routinely fail; some fail multiple times, and some will never pass, because they cannot write a coherent sentence.
In each of my courses, we discuss thesis statements and topic sentences, the need for precision in vocabulary, why economy of language is desirable, what constitutes a compelling subject. I explain, I give examples, I cheerlead, I cajole, but each evening, when the class is over and I come down from my teaching high, I inevitably lose faith in the task, as I’m sure my students do. I envision the lot of us driving home, solitary scholars in our cars, growing sadder by the mile.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Wow. Your “logic” astounds me.
Carry on.
I never said it was logical.
I agree completely. I always dreamed of getting my kids as advanced as yours. Bravo to you. If they all keep going like they have been, the home schoolers will take over.
The next step is militant fecundity!
She found a tutor made it through and graduated in four years.
These are precisely the actions undertaken by responsible students who have taken ownership of their education. In the article, Prof. X gently encouraged Ms. L to do just this. Had Ms. L followed this advice she might have passed with "the gentlewoman's C-.'
I’m referring to your logic, not the student’s in the article.
Never mind.
Interesting book out there on this subject called Real Education by Charles Murry
My father owned a construction company in Wyoming in the early 70’s. He paid carpenters $10-12 an hour. Houses cost $20-30k and a new car was, $3,500?
It is now 2008 and carpenters in Wyoming make $10-16 an hour. Enough said.
But entry level carpentry work is like flipping burgers. It is entry level. Some people are just plain carpenters and they dont make so much. Others become specialists such as cabinet makers, finish workers or if they have the tomatoes: contractors.
Good contractors and skilled workers make good wages today.
I don’t see the point in insulting me just because I have an opinion that is not a duplicate of yours.
I was drawing upon my experiences as a major league underachiever in school and my experiences training first time employees at a bank.
If you can’t tolerate freedom of speech, don’t read my posts.
But that would hurt their precious self esteem.
I’m certainly not trying to insult you.
I’m merely pointing out that I cannot see any basis for your opinion that the woman in this article, rather than being completely unsuited for college-level work, was a simple underachiever who was gaming the professor for some unknown reason.
But, to each his own.
You've made the best points so far on this thread.
Unfortunately, workplaces across the country are filled with people who simply cannot communicate effectively, whether in writing or verbally, and many of these inept people are college and university graduates. Universities are notorious for producing non-comminicators who specialize in competitive dialogue, conveying nothing but attitude in every exchange.
The first rule of Business Communications should be, "Nobody can read your flipping mind." Grown-ups in any business need to be able to convey the who, what, when, where, how, and why, of any event or topic, without ambiguity, and at a level of detail appropriate for the subject at hand.
It would be great if High Schools could magically start teaching basic Business Communications, Speech, and English Composition, but that hasn't been happening for many years, and it isn't likely to begin now.
The lady referenced in the article by the snotty "professor" most likely needed some prerequisites prior to undertaking a class requiring research papers.
She was unsuited.
You seem to say she was unsuited because she wasn’t already trained.
I think she was so bored she didn’t do the work.
I think she was not intelligent enough to do the work.
This wasn’t high school. No one was forcing her to go to college, nor did she appear uninterested in personal achievement.
The whole point of the article was that she was *unable* and *unprepared* to do college-level work. I fail to see anything in the article that even begins to support your theory that the problem was that she was “bored.”
A test I took once, in order to just get a job interview, pointed out the absolute truth about the above highlighted statement.
The test consisted of several nonsensical actions a person was to perform and the reader had to check mark each action as they did it. However, if you read the first sentence you were instructed NOT to do any of the actions until you had read all of the instructions.
The last instruction told the reader not to do any of the preceding instructions and to simply mark the last sentence, sign your paper,and hand it back to the instructor. There were 15 people taking the test only two people handed the papers back with only the last instruction marked and I was one of them.
Following instructions is crucial in most jobs and many people simply don't pay attention.
I got the interview and the job, the other person was hired also.
I don't see how you could have possibly read the entire article and still come to that conclusion.
Sounds a lot like my parents. My mom stayed home and raised 3 kdis.
My father had a civil service electrician job.
We were not poor, but I’d call us lower middle class.
We lived on his salary alone. We never lacked food or clothing. Wore lots of hand-me-downs. Kept the same car until it fell apart. ONE tv - black and white.
Despite the lack of money, my father managed to pay off our house in 5 years, and took us on a family vacation every year. My parents did NOT use credit.
You are hiding behind that wall of defeat and hopelessness and humiliation which makes you accuse others of lying.
What exactly, is the controversy? You have some comprehension deficits. You should address them as soon as you can - perhaps by researching what it feels like to walk in someone else’s shoes. Maybe you could even read the whole thread. Learn to appreciate that yours isn’t the only opinion. In fact, persons A B and C can have one view while D E and F and have another. Why don’t you write a research paper about it?
And, if you think abortion has any historical significance you need lots of remedial training. I want to make it clear that you are not worthy to be here, that I realize that you have shut down and won’t hear a thing I say thus you have no hope of success. Now get to work...
Are you bored yet, do you feel a little rebellious?
*snicker*
I will grant that boredom often plagues the clueless because they are totally lost in class and typically bereft of the skills required to do anything about it. In a free society, especially a one facing the effects of globalization, remaining ignorant and dependent upon others is an available choice that leads to a life of poverty.
Ms. L and all others like her really have only two choices:
First, they can put aside their doubts and fears, get remedial help, and slog along and do the best they can to improve their life.
The second choice is to accept their state at the bottom rung of society as permanent. In our society, people who choose the latter often assuage the pain associated with their choices by convincing themselves that they are victims. In reality such a view is self-deception because the productive members of society have funded primary, secondary, and postsecondary schools where determined, motivated students can get a decent education.
The inconvenient truth is that the limitations people face in life are far more a consequence of individual choices than most people care to admit to themselves.
People who fail because they are bored are immature.
My commanders don't give a flying flip whether or not I am entertained in my job. Corporate America couldn't care less if you find the job "fun."
Life sucks. Kids can afford to blow off what bores them. Those of us in the real world though are bored, but suck it up.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.