If only they would leave all that behind when they graduate . . .
Posted on 12/14/2012 1:02:43 PM PST by virgil283
When Isaac Newton went to the University of Cambridge several centuries ago, he studied seven days a week, at least ten hours a day, and actively avoided the revelry that some Cambridge undergraduates engaged in even then. No one expects American undergraduates to work as hard as Isaac Newton or as medieval monks. However, what seems to be happening on many American college campuses is the development of such a powerful "fun" culture that a quarter of the students or more arrive thinking that having fun is the main reason they are at college and that the pursuit of knowledge should be resorted to only when they have nothing better to do. Unlike students who work for pay during the academic year, where they must submit to employer supervision, students who do not take paid jobs have a great deal of freedom. Although they are supposed to study, they are not compelled to study.
(Excerpt) Read more at mindingthecampus.com ...
I work at a university.
It would be impossible to overstate how immature and idiotic most of the students are.
They spend six or seven years partying on student loans then they get out and become angry Occupiers pissed that they can’t find a job and demanding our money to pay their loans.
Another day in Obamaland. :)
I remember them telling us in orientation that for every hour of class we should expect to spend two hours on homework. I had to laugh. I knew it was BS. I didn’t even buy books a couple of semesters. Because the college textbook industry is a racket, but mostly because it they were unnecessary.
College is a joke. It is nothing more than pretend adult/desperately hanging on to childhood time.
Like Chef said, there’s a time and a place for everything, and that’s college. It’s the combination of life factors, take a bunch of young healthy people at their most attractive and most hormonal with the least amount common sense they’ll have in their lives and no adult supervision there’s really only one thing that will happen.
Interesting article. I had a good cross section of students and the non-traditional students, the ones who are older, commute to campus are much more serious about their work when teaching at the university.
Looking back on my undergraduate days, I worked on my degree from the Fall of 1985 to Winter 1989. I went to a private Methodist university in Southern Indiana which at the time was mostly composed of students who live nearby like from KY, Southern IN and Southern IL. Compared to like IU or Purdue, it was mostly a suitcase campus but it changed a lot. I visited there last Spring when I was on my Spring Break and hung around. Really enjoy the visit and plan to visit next Spring. The campus has much more activities on weekends today versus back when I was a student.
With my undergraduate college, what I remember back in the day and reading the history, here is the following changes
Before my time
When I was a student in the 1980’s
Today
When I went to college, I spent 16-18 hours per day either in class, studying, or attending to other obligations, 6 days a week.
There were many others like me.
If only they would leave all that behind when they graduate . . .
To think that Dorhne (spelling?) teaches law at Northwestern University.
I cannot begin to tell you what a frightening concept that is.
But I also made Dean's List.
“If a female student wishes to party on a Thursday evening, get drunk, and sleep through her Friday classes, nothing except her own conscience prevents her from doing so. This freedom enables many students to pursue “fun” relentlessly during the academic year.”
Hence the reason that I kept my kids at home during their college years. If I’m going to pay those kinds of bucks, then I’m going to get some (i.e., a lot) of accountability in return. I realize that other parents may prefer to simply roll the dice, but that’s their problem, not mine.
When I was an undergrad living in the fraternity house, it was pretty common for people start partying on Thu night. I know like 10 years ago, there were discussions withing the college administrative circles to crack down. One idea was more Friday classes and early morning ones too. At my undergrad school, you had classes for an hour on Mon, Wed, Fri or 1.5 hours on Tue & Thu. Where I teach at now, classes are on Mon.Wed or Tue/Thu for 1.5 hours or one day per week for almost 3 hours. There are also a lot of labs on Fri as well. When I was an undergrad, I would have liked the Mon/Wed or Tue/Thu option and a 3 day weekend and do some local travel like go from Evansville to Carbondale IL, Nashville TN or back home to Indy.
> “If a female student wishes to party on a Thursday evening, get drunk, and sleep through her Friday classes.......
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.