Reply to Schools that aren’t grim but are still a good education

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is my take on your question: I would look more where you are forming your ideas that college is grim and/or isn't supporting intellectual curiosity.  There's a lot of critique of higher ed in the air that is pretty divorced from reality.  I think people are more aware of ROI of college on careers than they used to be, but the reality is that at nearly every reasonably good not for profit school--and by that I mean the top couple hundred public and private colleges and universities not just elite ones--kids are immersed in classes and discussions that stimulate intellectual curiosity.  Profs might grumble that they aren't as curious about learning as they used to be, and outsiders might look at grade inflation and think it was a lot harder to get an A in their day, but those complaints are really just generational complaints and the more pointed ones are the ones that get noticed.  There are just as many ways college is more complex and difficult now than the past too (much more reading, just more disciplinary knowledge, some of the expectations for undergraduate research are more akin to what graduate students used to do just because of technological developments etc.)
 Partisan politics will also always want to pull up examples for critiques of some sort or another--but stay grounded in reasonable thinking.  Having 4 years to be in a group of peers, be living on your own but with lots of supports, and be immersed in taking classes in diverse areas is a pretty intellectually stimulating thing to do--so most places offer a good education that is far from grim.
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I teach at an R1 school and what you're saying about complexity and difficulty is unfortunately untrue, at least when it comes to the humanities. And honestly, while there is plenty of blame to go around, the helicopter parenting that has been prevalent for the last thirty or so years bears a lot of responsibility for the insanity around competitive college admissions, grade inflation and lack of intellectual curiosity. [/quote]

How long have you taught? Do you think the most recent kids seem generally unhappier? Or has it been about the same?

I posit that the lack of intellectual curiosity is driven by unhappiness and fear (sort of cancellation but more a fear of learning something that might disrupt a carefully curated world view, which is reinforced by social media algorithms that do not show dissent). [/quote]

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