Comment by Nextgrid
19 days ago
For the average student, does it actually matter whether they pass the class or not?
The social contract of "do well in school and you'll get a good job that allows you to afford live a decent life" is on increasingly shaky grounds thanks to things like the property Ponzi scheme reaching even higher levels of pressure, hiring in knowledge work positions being broken, and understandable uncertainty around how AI is going to reshape many positions.
If they're going to be fucked either way, can we blame them for not caring and instead focusing on the very little things that still bring them happiness?
If that’s their attitude why are they paying for college in the first place? I could absolutely understand not thinking college has any benefit for them, I did exactly that, what I don’t understand is deciding to go to college and then not engaging with it.
I'm not American here - because "cushy" jobs require degrees. Any of them, but you need to have them. And because those jobs are often your bland office ones, they don't really require a lot of training/skill, so you're free to do them even if you were an below-average student at a bad major.
All that matters in paper.
(I'm not condoning it, in opposite - but that's a common line of thought)
If one just needs a paper, not education, there are plenty of degree mills that will grant a degree at half the price and 10% time commitment.
Maybe they feel it is expected of them and aren’t really interested in the subject matter? I met an engineering student once who told me they hated it but their parents wouldn’t support them for their true passion (the arts). For some I think (given my experience at uni is 2 decades ago) they use it as an excuse to enjoy being young rather than do serious study.