Comment by paulluuk

I won't go into whether this is "yet another old person complaining about young people", I do not know whether this is a valid complaint or not. Instead, I just want to comment on some of what is mentioned here.

For context, I want to reveal a little bit of private information. I grew up in a family that was somewhere between lower class and middle class. My parents found out (or perhaps decided?) that I was quite intelligent as a child. And so they really wanted me to go to university, become part of the "educated elite", and make them proud. Whenever I would do anything that was "smart", I could feel their love and appreciation. I internalized this as "smart = loved". So when I started to struggle in school, because it turned out that you need more than just intelligence but also effort, I stopped trying. In hindsight, I realized that I would rather be seen as a lazy genius than as hardworking average student. Could I have been a hardworking genius? No, I'm pretty intelligent compared to most people, but I'm not a Mensa member or anything (despite the lack of trying -- how does geography knowledge end up on an intelligence test, anyway?). I did end up finishing high school at the highest level, and then got a university bachelors, but the whole process took about 1.5x as many years as it's supposed to, because I treated actual exams as practice exams, and I'd sometimes pass them on the "retry" (usually I did not, but I'd pass them the next year). Suffice to say, I am filled with self-shame and anguish whenever anyone even brings up the topic of education.

so, with that out of the way so you can better choose how much to value my opinions, I want to discuss a few points:

> Attendance is a HUGE problem

Is it really a problem, though? God I wish that my classes were recorded, like so many other studies' classes were. I had a pretty bad sleeping disorder, and having to go to class each day at 9 am, expected to be at peak intellectual level, was really hard for me. It's much better now that I'm working, but still I'm at my best around 11 AM. How I envied students who could watch classes at 6 pm, or whenever they felt like it, and even having the option to re-watch classes!

> I’m supposed to believe that they suddenly, urgently need the toilet, but the reality is that they are going to look at their phones. They know I’ll call them out on it in class, so instead they walk out.

Just let them watch their phones in class, then. If you really want them to act as adults, let them choose their own priorities.

> I am frequently asked for my PowerPoint slides, which basically function for me as lecture notes. It is unimaginable to me that I would have ever asked one of my professors for their own lecture notes. No, you can’t have my slides. Get the notes from a classmate.

Why the hell not? What is the point of this? Is this a hierarchy/power thing? Why would notes from a classmate be better than, you know, teachings from their teacher?

> I hate laptops in class, but if I try to ban them the students will just run to Accommodative Services and get them to tell me that the student must use a laptop or they will explode into tiny pieces.

Okay so two things: making notes on a laptop is fine, it's no worse than writing on a notebook. Yes, I know that there are some supposed benefits to the hand-eye coordination from writing, but I can't imagine that that's what you care about. No you're probably annoyed by the fact that they are choosing to do different things on their laptop while in your class. But as I said above, just let them. It's their own responsibility to pay attention, and it's neither your obligation nor your right to treat them as children. Instead, consider why these students might be "checking out". Why are they in this class if they just want to gamble and watch memes? Could it be that they are being pressured into being here and that they are desperately trying to "cheat" the system into expressing themselves? Could it be that this hierarchical system where they are supposedly "adults" they still find themselves being stuck in this boring structure where education staff have become their new parents is not the best way for them to find out what they want to do with their lives? I was a bored, distracted student like this. If I could go to university again (I could, but it's exprensive -- not just because costs are high, but much more so because it means missing years of income) I would probably be an excellent student now -- but it would be because I choose to be a student. I never chose to be a student, except that I "chose" to go along with expectactions, and I know that many fellow students felt the same. These people are adults, yes, but they're also still on the same "school child" mindset that they have been on since they were 4 years old. They can't wait to finally be done and actually, you know, live. Okay that was a long rant.

> No, you can’t make up the midterm because you were hungover and slept through your alarm, but you can if you had Covid. Then they just don’t show up. A missed quiz from a month ago might as well have happened in the Stone Age; students can’t be bothered to make it up or even talk to me about it because they just don’t care.

Okay this opinion is probably way out there, but: why not? If a test is supposed to just be a measure to determine if a student has absorbed the provided information, then why not allow them to take the test because they missed the first one from being hungover? Why have them wait a FULL YEAR to take the class again, if it's entirely possible that they have already absorbed all the information? The article complains about bored students who have "checked out". Gee, with this kind of mindset, I wonder why?

> One thing all faculty have to learn is that the students are not us.

BUT THEY ARE, though! Just younger versions. From their perspective, they are told pretty much "yeah you're adults now, but before you can begin your life, you have to finish this 3-5 year degree, which will be pretty much exactly as the last 15 years of your life have been but now classes are optional and you'll rake up huge debts in the process that you might be able to pay back over the next 15 years". These are not 40 year olds who had a succesful degree and are now, of their own volition, deciding to study something that truely interests them. These are young adults who are not just studying something that they pray will be interesting to them (because how will they know before starting?) and in the meantime are also dealing with finally having some private freedom -- like renting their own apartment, having relationships, finally being able to drink all night and not have to worry about waking up mom, and whatever else comes with that. I know several people like that who ended up becoming professors at a university, so yes they are very much like you. Trying to make them "the others" doesn't do either of you any good.

> Yes, I know some texts, especially in the sciences, are expensive. However, the books I assign are low-priced. All texts combined for one of my courses is between $35-$100 and they still don’t buy them.

why isn't the teacher just providing these books for free in PDF form? Teachers who require students to read the books that they are selling has always felt very bad to me: the teachers have this weird conflict of interest because they can set any price for their books and the students will have to buy it because otherwise they can't complete their degree. I mean, depending on the country (I'm not american), I know some students are already paying over 60k per year - why does that not include the teacher's required textbook? why is it that someone who has no money, who is given a scholarship to attend university, might still fail due to having no money?

Alright, that concludes my rant. Clearly I've been very triggered by this post. As a final note: I want to say that I wish that I had had competent LLMs when I was studying. Textbooks are often written by extremely verbose and long-winded people, which perhaps is not true for the author, but I too really struggled with reading those. And not just because they were long and boring, but also because simple explanations are just much more effective ways to explain complex themes. LLMs are AMAZING at breaking down complicated topics into smaller ones that you can understand, and more importantly, it can tell you in a way that you understand, it "speaks your language" if you will. It's like having a private tutor. Students should be thriving right now because they all got private tutors! Amazing! But instead, the field of education is failing to capitalize on this and is only capable to seeing how it's a problem for the way things have been done in the past. Adapt! Learn! Improve! Don't be complacent, consider that AI might be a tool that can help you teach: encourage students to use it! Find a new way to teach that capitalizes on this amazing new tool in humanity's collective toolbelt.

Alright now my rant really is concluded, haha.