Spin-off "The student as a paying customer"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you OP!

Can I tell you the mindset that I can commiserate with though?

Thinking back to my college days (or high school)..
As a busy student who’s trying to fulfill good grades and all the assignments I want to do...

I’ve been *burned* by some professors assigning material or work that we didn’t end up needing to care about. In other words, the professor gives two lengthy reading materials. I read them both, with one taking a *significant* amount of time. I sacrificed and read it even though it was long. Next class, there’s a quiz on the materials.... and the long material is not covered in the quiz. Burn.

1) if the prof attitude is that they don’t care, I should what to read it anyway... that is not right. Go ahead and quiz me on it. Give me 2 points of credit, but don’t ask me to just LOVE to read extra assignments for the fun of it. That’s my choice to make. In fact, because you wasted my time, I did not have time to read extra material that I find enlightening and fun. It is the equivalent of telling a veterinarian or other job, they should give free care because they love the animals, or because they’re passionate for marketing or whatever.

No I do not have free time to waste on material you’re never going to ask about.

2) if you’re going to assign stuff, quiz it all for comprehension or a basic quiz to prove we actually read it.

Again, I will read whatever you assign but when you burn me once, I’m going to want to know “if this material will be on the test.”

-signed, someone who never had the courage to ask that question. But SO happy whenever another student did.

Dear god, I feel sorry for you.
Here's a life tip--do NOT see everything worthwhile in life as an economic transaction. If you do, you are bound to be an even more shallow and superficial person than you already are. You don't read important literature because you're going to be quizzed on it. You read it because it will give you some insight into humanity.

Please don’t feel sorry for me. I truly do not have the outlook you’re suggesting.
Do you know how much English majors read? For fun and for assignments? (I was an English major but switched).

No, it is not ok to assign reading that wont be asked about in some manner. Yes, sometimes it’s about making connections. However, with that ‘free’ time, I could have been earning from my part-time job; figuring out my depression, specifically during my third semester; sleeping, or getting other important work for the class completed.

Promise, I am the last one to be one of those kids—I would have never asked those questions. I always guessed that material would be discussed in the next lecture, or else why would they assign it?
Turns out, yes, sometimes they give you 200 pages to read and they don’t ask you about it. Hence, in the future, one of the students will ask that question.

Why do you need to go to class and have lectures if all you really need to do is read the book and take the test? Not all students are visual learners and need the lectures to learn or a combination of the two. You are paying for teaching, in theory, not reading a book and taking a test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"But that also doesn't mean that professors get to pretend that students aren't taking on life-harming debt levels to be in their classrooms."

If a student is taking on life-harming debt, they have a beef with their HS councilor and their parents, not their professors.

There is NEVER a good reason to take on that much debt.

Are you serious?
Higher education is not just for the wealthy.
Poor students have a right to pursue their dream careers and education just as much as everyone else

Perhaps you are bitter that someone from an undeserving class got the spot meant for your child of privilege.

[Anonymous]

Kind of crazy the number of professors in this thread who don't seem to have any problem with teenagers taking on harmful levels of debt.

I can't wait for the higher education bubble to collapse. The current system is appalling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"But that also doesn't mean that professors get to pretend that students aren't taking on life-harming debt levels to be in their classrooms."

If a student is taking on life-harming debt, they have a beef with their HS councilor and their parents, not their professors.

There is NEVER a good reason to take on that much debt.

Are you serious?
Higher education is not just for the wealthy.
Poor students have a right to pursue their dream careers and education just as much as everyone else

Perhaps you are bitter that someone from an undeserving class got the spot meant for your child of privilege.

I think that PP would be perfectly fine with just rich students, so long as those rich students didn't ask her what was on the test or any other questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"But that also doesn't mean that professors get to pretend that students aren't taking on life-harming debt levels to be in their classrooms."

If a student is taking on life-harming debt, they have a beef with their HS councilor and their parents, not their professors.

There is NEVER a good reason to take on that much debt.

Are you serious?
Higher education is not just for the wealthy.
Poor students have a right to pursue their dream careers and education just as much as everyone else

Perhaps you are bitter that someone from an undeserving class got the spot meant for your child of privilege.

I think that PP would be perfectly fine with just rich students, so long as those rich students didn't ask her what was on the test or any other questions.

Very few students are actually independently wealthy. Their parents are wealthy and footing the bill.

[Anonymous]

A person making $80-100K is making decent money. If the major/career field they choose makes more outside of teaching, they are welcome to leave. But, how much they make has no baring on the quality of the teaching/service they should provide students. If they feel they are underpaid, take it up with the school and how the school chooses their budget, not with the kids, may of whom are going to be paying it back over the next 20+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kind of crazy the number of professors in this thread who don't seem to have any problem with teenagers taking on harmful levels of debt.

I can't wait for the higher education bubble to collapse. The current system is appalling.

Well, the parents are apparently okay with it as well, since they’re pushing their children down this path. The professors don’t really care if your child comes to their school or not. There are plenty that can afford it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kind of crazy the number of professors in this thread who don't seem to have any problem with teenagers taking on harmful levels of debt.

I can't wait for the higher education bubble to collapse. The current system is appalling.

You misread. It's not that professors don't care about rising tuition--many of us do--it's that we have zero control over rising tuition costs. We are trained to be researchers in our subject areas, we are not trained to analyze the financial workings of a large organization.