Posted on 12/08/2022 7:52:46 AM PST by george76
One expert told The College Fix students need to ‘adjust their expectations’
While 87 percent of students said that college is “too difficult,” the same percentage are studying less than 10 hours per week, a new survey found.
Intelligent.com, which regularly surveys college students, gathered data from 1,000 respondents, all of whom attend four-year colleges.
“The vast majority of students (87%) say they have felt at least one of their college classes was too challenging and should have been made easier by the professor,”
...
71 percent of students spend fewer than 10 hours per week on studying, and a total of 87 percent of students spend fewer than 15 hours per week hitting the books.
The survey organization found that about one-third of students who think they work hard fail to put in more than five hours a week into schoolwork. “But of the 64% who say they put in a lot of effort, one-third also say they spend less than 5 hours a week studying and on homework,” the group reported.
A former professor and longtime educational and cultural commentator said that the decline of educational standards goes back decades.
“These results say we’re near the bottom of a slope we began to roll down in the sixties,” Stanley Kurtz, an author at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a National Review contributing editor, told The College Fix via email.
Kurtz has taught at Harvard University and the University of Chicago.
“Students first need to adjust their expectations about the nature and purpose of education,” Kurtz said, responding to the minimal effort put in by students, despite many thinking they are working hard.
“In a proper college classroom, students come to understand that there aren’t enough hours in a day or years in a lifetime to drink in or grapple with the choices offered by the greatest pieces of literary, philosophical, or religious thought,” he said.
“Professors who are ‘difficult’ in this way should be rewarded with promotions, prizes, and praise,” Kurtz said. “Colleges should compete to hire them. Administrators who discourage, punish, or dismiss professors who are ‘difficult’ in this way—like the professor of organic chemistry fired by NYU—should themselves be dismissed and replaced.”
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The professor referenced by Kurtz is Maitland Jones, who taught chemistry at New York University until the school forced him out for being too tough.
While only nine percent of students filed a complaint against their professor, “[t]wo-thirds say the professor should have been forced to make the class easier,” Intelligent reported.
Kurtz also expressed some concern for how this trend could hinder the future workforce. “Obviously, students coddled with reduced expectations for work in college will fail in the workforce, or corrupt it, or both,” Kurtz said. “That said, the solution requires more than demands for increased work and discipline—although that is certainly part of the picture.”
Doctors and engineers of tomorrow.
Very few people should be in college.
On The Job Training is superior for most professions.
Some professions really need higher education. College is appropriate for those few.
Currently, college is 4 years of fun for a lot of people.
Seriously — unless they are going into engineering, chemistry, physics or the like, they should LEAVE COLLEGE and pursue a skilled trade!
What universities?
What majors?
Who is answering seriously?
Every 18-21 year old male is a smartass.
I’m in my 40’s and still a smartass.
"Hon, before I hand you the mirror, let's talk about that skin peel I just did for you..."
I was talking to a guy who works at King Sooper’s and he was telling me how the young people they hire complain that working in the grocery store is too hard for them.
What a bunch of WIMPS!
Going to college is simple compared to most manual labor jobs. I went to college and worked at the same time.
The only excuse they may have is that their high school public education only taught them how to claim they are victims, instead of the three R’s.
LOL!
I went back for my MBA a few years back. Could not believe the lack of rigor when compared with my undergraduate studies 3 decades ago.
“87% of students say college is ‘too difficult’ but refuse to study more”
Tell that to my son a Senior in Engineering at USI. Took him three try’s to pass a Calculus 4 course , but he did and now will be graduating this Spring with a 3.0+ GPA.
College is supposed to be freakin hard, it’s what prepares you for the real world.
Well, college level Calculus is not simple, and is required for most BS and STEM degrees.
Did my share of all nighters to make it through…that’s what you did back then.
Easy times make weak men.
Weak men make tough times. <-— We are here.
I refuse to teach cosmetology, because I don't give make-up exams.
The dumbing down of United States of America continues at a furious pace.
Kurtz also expressed some concern for how this trend could hinder the future workforce. “Obviously, students coddled with reduced expectations for work in college will fail in the workforce, or corrupt it, or both,” Kurtz said.
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I’ve already witnessed this in my own office. Now I’ll grant, many of the young hires we get are talented, pleasant to work with, and really push themselves on the projects. But we’ve had a few clunkers who seemed horrified that a salaried 9-5 worker may have to work on occasion beyond the hours of 9-5.
And in truth, it probably IS too hard for them, because the greatest failure in our education system is happening in K -12, especially elementary school, because if they aren’t achieving at grade level in 6th, it just gets worse in jr. high and high school.
When I was in school, it was 1 credit hour plus three homework hour per week per course. So a full time load was 50 hrs per week school and 40 hrs per week working.
No frats, occasional dates, few parties, rare games... iwas just too damn busy.
Freaking kids these days...
Most of my coworkers (accounting department) are smart asses too, it’s awesome.
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