The average college student today

Excellent article, and I believe every word. I've seen both ends of the spectrum. We recently interviewed a young man for an engineering position. It was obvious he was one of the "achievers". I hope he is hired. But I'm sure other disciplines have trouble recruiting stable, qualified people.

Not everyone is meant to go to college, but the average student today's attitudes towards college is ridiculous. I couldn't finish the article, but the behavior didn't just start when they matriculated, it started long before then. Laxidaisical teaching because parents weren't holding the teachers accountable, and the parents more intent on living the "good life" than on helping their children prepare for the real world. It would be interesting to see the difference between home-schooled children, private schooled children, and public-school children when they get to college, at least as far as academic performance.

I went to college to learn what was necessary to be a skilled, capable engineer. I studied hard, attended 100% of classes, and got good grades.......because I wanted to. And when, after four and a half years, I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, I thought about it a while, and decided that I didn't meet my own goals for what a skilled, capable engineer should know. So, I went to grad school and got a master's degree in MEng. At the end of 18 months of more class work and a huge research project where we built and tested a hybrid electric bus (early-mid 1970s), with me taking courses in the Materials Department, Electrical Engineering Department and Math Department, in addition to a bunch of MechEng courses, I finally decided that I met my standards and graduated. I can't feel sorry for these lazy, ignorant, hopless "students". I saw plenty of that sort while I was going to college, too. They rapidly dropped out. In fact, I remember in the first of a three course set of freshman chemistry courses, the professor, the Chem Department chairman and an excellent lecturer, told us much like this author "look to your left and to your right, by the last of these three courses only one of you three will still be here". He was exactly right, and I was still there. I went to college for a reason, and I studied and also had fun with friends, but not at the expense of school, at least 90% if the time. People choose what they want in life. These 'students' (not) are choosing to fail at life.

FTA: "I don’t blame K-12 teachers. This is not an educational system problem, this is a societal problem." He's completely wrong. I do blame public school teachers as well as their powerful unions. Thanks to these unions, it's nearly impossible to fire a lousy, ineffective teachers.

FTA - "One thing all faculty have to learn is that the students are not us. We can’t expect them all to burn with the sacred fire we have for our disciplines, to see philosophy, psychology, math, physics, sociology or economics as the divine light of reason in a world of shadow. Our job is to kindle that flame, and we’re trying to get that spark to catch, but it is getting harder and harder and we don’t know what to do." Rather stunning that the typical college institution finds it necessary to lower its standards to this level to attract student while characterizing its student body as academic zombies. And who pays for their tuition, room, and board while these kids spend their time getting tattoed? Mommie and Daddie. That's who. We can thank Zuckie, Bezos, the dims, and the dying family unit for the "zombie generation". See the movie, "The Social Dilemma" for more background. Aside from closing the Dept. of Education, what is the real answer.

There IS a simple solution, but just like their current students - I doubt Academia has the will or patience to implement it. It'll take about 12 years to fully incorporate. START in kindergarten. Rule #1 - no phones, no devices other than pen and paper. (ok, crayons for kinder's.) And across the board rules of decorum and personal responsibilities. Teachers, school boards and parents as well. Prepare todays first entrants to BE tomorrows' college kids. Allow opportunity off-ramps for those who want specialized trades training. Not all NEED the college experience so much as employers like to see the paper.

I chased and earned a PhD in Engineering so that I could teach engineering at a great school. Along the way, I ran low on money and found a job in engineering that let me finish my degree part time. I enjoyed that job and industry so much that I stayed until early retirement. During retirement I taught continuing education courses to graduate engineers and taught several semesters as an instructor at a large engineering college. I quickly became disgusted with undergrad and graduate students who cheated, skipped class and performed all of the other atrocities mentioned by the author. They didn’t come to learn, they came to earn credits towards a degree. I awarded “F” grades to several of them with the support of my department. I hope they learned something from that experience. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the continuing ed courses where engineers came to learn. Yes, there are severe problems with students enrolled in our universities. Glad I didn’t take the other route.

I believe it. I graduated from college 50 years ago. You could see it starting back then.

Far too many young people and parents think they must go to college or end up in the lower classes at minimal pay. There are plenty of bright young people who would be better off at a trade school, two year junior college or even an employer who takes them on as a trainee. I have a friend who started working for his dad's plumbing business, learned to be a good plumber, and is now very comfortably retired and better off than many I know who have college degrees in some subject that won't help them make a decent living.

This is not new. Back in 1987 my husband was teaching American History in the evenings at a nearby college. He brought home his students’ essays for me to read and they were pathetic, filled with misspelled words and terrible sentence structure.