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She majored in engineering... and AP'd out of Chem 101, and Calc 1 and 2 (or whatever the intro equivalents are...).
Definitely NOT challenging enough for her....
Who care's about challenging its about making it though college with a decent GPA then finding a job!
If you are a GenXer, as am I, we only have ourselves to blame. Millennials and their younger counterparts have been pampered to high heaven! This generation is the most coddled and hand-held of any before it. They are naive indeed, even the smart ones...technology, as great as it is, has handicapped their brains and given them a sense of "intelligence" that is very superficial. The easier it is to access knowlegde the less important it will become. Welcome to our "wiki-oogle-twit-face-web" new world.
Every generation says the generation after them was "coddled" and "had it easy."
I believe things are harder for this generation. For one thing, there are more people, less jobs, and school is 10x more expensive and competitive. Students are expected to learn more in college. They must thoroughly understand the fundamentals of topics as well as how to implement them in our fast-paced, technology driven society. Plus, now they have to compete heavily with the billions of international workers (in China, India, Russia, South Korea...etc) for jobs.
The economy is in the toilet (and has faced 2 large bubbles since 2000), inflation is about to go through the roof, we just finished fighting a 10 year war-- the longest in American history. Things are just more difficult for this generation...
Many if not most Community College students are not worth a dam!I teach Management classes in the Business Program at a large Community College as an Adjunct Professor as a second job in the evening. I have also taught full time students in the day time too.
Sometimes when I can't sleep I get philosophical about the thousands of students who have come through my classes in the last 15 years. Many are nice enough and many put in some effort but in general America is in serious trouble if these people are going to someday work in responsible positions in corporate America.
What hits me is how many of the Community College students just don't care, are lazy and not so bright. Many even in their 20s and 30s are incredibly naive about academics, organization and education. They also seem incredibly naive about what awaits them in the real world if they graduate.
Most of the students who come through my Management 101 class will take a handful of classes at the Community College and then drop out and then go into a number of dead end jobs for the rest of their life.
My situation is not unique. My fellow Professors report the quality of students are at an all time low and each year the group gets worse and worse. All in an era when we are facing incredible competition from Asia.
Tell me the students are better in a four year college!
If I may offer up an alternate viewpoint:
THe 'Kids today' were not BORN this way.
They were RAISED this way!
(Who's fault is it?!)
I've been to 6 (IIRC) Colleges from Community Colleges to Ole Miss...
I'm finishing up my undergead over the next couple days, as well as the first 6 hours of my masters. (I have a 3.71 GPA, and the last few months should bring that back up)
I've been taking 18-19 hours per term, and quite frankly, I'm bored.
Schools are based on the Prussian system of education, and provide NOTHING but the lowest common denominator, little in the way of critical thinking, oranything to stimulate the brain.
All they are after is collecting as many fees as possible, and creating little cubical drones.
The so called educational system needs to be revamped... THAT is (Part of) your problem!
I'm 33 (and went to community college! No student loan debt - went to a cheap state school after that).
This generation has been thrown under the bus:
1st -Standards are terrible or non existent. Thus, the 3 r's are terrible. Things like business management are going to be esoteric when the middle student is getting a 7th or 8th grade education. I think highschool has been dumbed down to the 8th grade. Look at the comments and spelling and grammar online.
2nd -Schools have failed to change with the times. They have failed this generation miserably. Why are we still using the agrarian calendar? Why are we still using 1 teacher and 30 desks in a classroom? It's incredibly outdated and archaic.
I think the education establishment hates innovation or change. It takes into their pocket.
Schools should be using many different modes of learning...audio, visual, videos, hand held computers, etc.
Of the 35 kids in a community college class, 10 should be in a 4 year school....they should have gotten there through an accelerated highschool. Through technology and better methods of learning....and the smart kids being seperated from the slow ones! 15 of them shouldn't be there....what has happened to tech/vocational schools?
(In another parallel world...i.e. the 1950's or 60's, they would have gone onto a tech/vocational school or an apprenticeship.).
When you try to mold everyone into the same artificial square peg (because of political correctness), don't be suprised if some of the pegs are slow or "lazy" or don't catch on.
If the other 10 graduated highschool properly, they'd be doing better work. CC can be a training ground for good work. Some of the professors I had there taught at "real" colleges.
3rd -Too much political correctness and rift raff has stifled "real" subjects...i.e. womens studies, latino studies, gender equality.....they are teaching gay history in california! Wonderful.
There should be a bigger emphasis on computer science, engineering, etc.
4th - I think the education establishment is mostly just interested in themselves and perpetuating the myth that they have a "hold" on the young minds of America. They want whats good for them, and the students come second.
Thus kids are still lugging around big textbooks in 2011 when they could fit 10x that information on a tablet. I don't think its a lack of reading. Look at the Harry Potter series. Kids can read, but I don't think they're given much of a chance.
I suppose we had different experiences. I did not experience the weeding out. Our professors were very interested in teaching us and for us to be successful.
Like I did mention before, anyone who was interested in going to my school (as I was) had no option other than to go there for the entire 4 years. They do not accept transfers. Until recently, many of the good schools did not accept transfer students. I know some still do not from 2-year institutions.
Weeding is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. I know where I went to college Organic Chemistry was the weed out class for science majors (pre-med candidates usually). It was a nearly impossible course taken sophomore year. If you couldn't hack that course, you didn't belong in medical school.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Themanwithnoname
Many states now REQUIRE transference between state schools (CC and 4 year)
Can't speak to pvt...
Most private schools don't accept CC credits and the more selective colleges won't even accept transfer credits from other 4 year schools.
This is problematic today. Many post-secondary students (not all, but many) are lazy, ignorant, undisciplined potatoes. They expect a professor to spoon-feed them and to entertain them as though they were watching TV, or playing a video game, or working Facebook. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to get out of bed for early classes on occasion. Anyone who wants to have a productive life needs to learn to motivate himself. Remember the four prep-school virtues? Tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. They built a nation.
This is problematic today. Many post-secondary students (not all, but many) are lazy, ignorant, undisciplined potatoes. They expect a professor to spoon-feed them and to entertain them as though they were watching TV, or playing a video game, or working Facebook. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to get out of bed for early classes on occasion. Anyone who wants to have a productive life needs to learn to motivate himself. Remember the four prep-school virtues? Tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. They built a nation.
I always have a problem with discussions such as this one where we are talking about community colleges as if they are all the same. There is a waterfall effect that drives our colleges. If the four year colleges want the community college students, they expect a certain level of knowledge. In my area, the community colleges have a transferable agreement with many four year universities (NOT just state schools) and all of the credits transfer. Students at the CC's are often taught by teachers that also teach at the nearby four year universities. It's not that uncommon for even good students to do two years at the local cc and then finish up at another college. I don't mean to say that it's a given that all of the credits transfer to all schools but there are several colleges whom they have agreements with.
As a parent of recent college graduates, I dislike the comments that they are all lazy no good people who don't know how to work and are unwilling to learn. My twenty-somethings are hard workers as are most of their friends. My daughter works three jobs while putting herself through grad school full time. Spend any time with people and you'll realize that slacking is not especially a generational thing.
Moderator - Lehigh Valley, NEPA, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Education and Colleges and Universities.
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