I have gotten the feeling that many of our students don't really want answers. Instead, they just want to ask questions to hear their own voices. This is because either1) They have stopped thinking about the question as soon as I start giving an answer.
or
2) They are asking the question because they are too lazy to look in their book themselves for the answer.
or
3) They want to know the bare minimum knowledge and not a degree more and are asking about where that line might be.
Examples:
"What are we doing in lab today?" - Ah, read the syllabus - that's why I write it.
"1ml and 0.1ml is the same, right, so I can add either to this broth and get good results?" - Sure...please promise me you won't become a doctor and control anyone's medicine dosages.
"Is this going to be on the exam?" - It wasn't, but since you asked, I'll make sure to write a really difficult question about it now.
So...my inquisitive mind wants to know if this trend is local or prevalent across this generation?
Is this a product of the video age? Or is it just because my college here isn't drawing the cream-of-the-crop kiddos? Hmmm...You can tell that it's Friday and I'm in dire need of chocolate.
Now, what was I saying again?
3 comments:
""1ml and 0.1ml is the same, right, so I can add either to this broth and get good results?" - Sure...please promise me you won't become a doctor and control anyone's medicine dosages."
Or cook. Or tend bar. Or anything else that could be screwed up by a power of ten.
I hesitate to say that kids now are dumber or lazier than we were in school -- all generations think those who come after are spiraling the drain. That said, in the last 30 years or so there has been this shift were "everyone is a winner", and as such mediocrity is rewarded the same as excellence. Ed, a buddy of mine currently teaching philosophy in Vancouver, is just as annoyed/frustrated as you are by his students' inability to write or think critically.
BTW, do any of your students read your blog?
Hell, no. This blog is set to fairly private settings. And I refuse to create a my space or facebook page for this reason. We all need a place to vent / hope away from the kiddies.
Summer, I'm completely sympathetic with you -- the students at CU are terrible. The good ones would be good anywhere -- but the rest . . . It may just be the shock of going from a small liberal arts college to a giant university. But I'm often amazed that many of my students were admitted to a college, much less able to avoid failing out. They expect As and Bs to be handed out like candy, with no effort on their part what-so-ever.
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