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b_b · 4871 days ago · link · · parent · post: Skills aren't taught at university; we develop them to cope with university
There's been a lot written by a lot of people from academic journal all the way down to blogs like this one claiming that universities are out of touch and perhaps "failing" the students, however defined. My question is what is the students' culpability in all this? It seems anyone can get a great education at a mediocre school if a lot of effort is expended. Its my supposition that effort is the lacking element for a lot of students, not new technologies or teaching methods. Thoughts, anyone?
forwardslash · 4870 days ago · link ·
I suppose it's hard to tell whether it's a systematic failure of the school or if the students lack motivation; I know I did my first time attempt at university. There's another post from Jeff Atwood [1] that highlights a paper that suggests that - in first year programming courses anyhow - students may not have the ability to even learn how to program. Personally I think that the major factor to these students not developing good skills, or in the case of the paper now learning how to program, is a lack of motivation. It's anecdotal at best, but I had one professor do almost everything to help our class do its best and the bell curve for grades was not all that off the average. He would repeat over and over problems and concepts which would be tested on both of our midterms and our final, things like "Prove the binomial theorem two ways". We were allowed a cheat sheet on one of our midterms which we could put anything on (including the proof of the binomial theorem given from our textbook). Even on our final, he said that if we aced it and had done all of our assignments, we would get an A. Still, people failed and/or dropped.
[1] http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2006/07/separating-programm...
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IMHO, lack of motivation is behind almost every failing kid. And I don't think it's the university's job to provide it. Things that are worthwhile are difficult, and require determination. IMO failing those kids is doing them a favor. Get them out of university until they are ready to deal with it.
Well, a lot of the way universities are structured can hamper enthusiasm and interest, is the issue. You can tell a student it's their fault for falling asleep in class, but giant, impersonal lecture halls and hour and a half long chunks of instruction can crush almost anyone's motivation.
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Well, a lot of the way universities are structured can hamper enthusiasm and interest, is the issue.
Same with basically any large institution, educational or corporate. Learning takes time and can be rote and even boring. Life is full of that stuff. But it's no big deal. You learn to push through it. Personally, I don't think a university that spent a lot of effort on being motivating would end up educating as well. Motivation should come from outside the classroom, IMHO.