Comment by hardwaregeek
20 days ago
That's part of it, but the author acknowledges that college has been transactional for quite a while. What has exacerbated the issue was COVID and the rise of extremely potent, addictive social media. I wouldn't be surprised if we look back on social media as the digital equivalent of children drinking and smoking weed, i.e. something that causes permanent damage to one's brain.
The technology may be amplifying the effects because that's what technology does but it is not a change to the underlying dynamics.
"The average college student today" is not uniquely lazy or lacking in character. They just have better tools to respond to the same incentives.
I'm not saying it's good - it's clearly an unsustainable trend, but the students are not the ones driving it, so they're not equipped to stop it.
>"The average college student today" is not uniquely lazy or lacking in character.
Idk, it's totally possible that as COVID happened and they watched the government lock them in their homes away from each other and forced them to miss important moments in their lives (remote graduations for example), then they watched the rise of EZ-Cheat systems (ChatGPT) which made their creators extremely wealthy, combined with crypto frauds (that our own President does in his free time), they started to think that the way to get ahead in life was to lack character and be lazy...
Isn't it? I mean, the "work hard, save your pennies" method is being intentionally attacked and the "invest everything in crypto" is being rewarded. EVERYTHING is done for the next quarter - and you expect students to learn that "patience in savings and working your way up the ladder" is the way to success?
The transaction has changed a great deal though. GPA used to be more heavily weighted and professors used to be more essential for references. You might bring your transcript to an interview. Now, it seems to be all about projects. Coursework has dwindled in relevance.
Goodhart's Law in action