Comment by FigurativeVoid
18 days ago
I have a few thoughts, so I’m just going to write them out and see where they all go. I went to school in the US, so everything here applies for the US.
- Credentialism isn’t a secret. Students attend university not to learn, but to get a credential. The only way to get said credential is to get good grades, and there are lots of ways to get good grades. When I studied chemical engineering, it was an open secret that everyone was cheating. The professors didn’t care so long as it appeared that you weren’t. People readily took easy classes or sought easy professors. Many people looked to get accommodations that they didn’t need so that tests would be easier. I don’t hate accommodations, I had a few.
- This professor that authored this post is complaining that students don’t have original thoughts. For undergraduates, classes are primarily about competency. Having an original thought is really hard work. You have to have a breadth of knowledge in a field that can’t be attained in an undergraduate course.
- I hate to blame technology. Our phones and computers are some of the most valuable tools that we have. I love to read. My parents went out of their way to make sure that my siblings and I could all read well, and we weren’t allowed to watch television. TikTok is more fun than reading. Phones are more fun than reading. I don’t blame people for using them over reading.
The state of education and reading in America is a travesty. I don’t have any solutions.
>This professor that authored this post is complaining that students don’t have original thoughts. For undergraduates, classes are primarily about competency. Having an original thought is really hard work. You have to have a breadth of knowledge in a field that can’t be attained in an undergraduate course.
It's honestly insane to imagine not expecting an undergraduate to answer a simple question asking for an original thought about a simple topic. The Notes from the Underground example is doing exactly this. "Original enough to be publishable" is not the same as "original". For the latter, it just means that the student thought about a question and gave their own answer rather than repeating some talking point that an internet search or ChatGPT query produced.
You're correct. But I think that it is still difficult to make an argument that is original enough to make a professor happy.
I think most professors are plenty happy with something that shows a bit of thought and analysis. They're not giving PhD quals, we're talking undergrad coursework here.