Jul 06 2010

Trying to get the credit without doing the work

Category: higher educationharmonicminer @ 12:29 pm

I wish the experience reported in this article was unique, but it is not.  I seem to have it, as a professor, about once per year.  Sometimes twice.

3 Responses to “Trying to get the credit without doing the work”

  1. K dippre says:

    I tend to experience this kind of thing more in the classes that involve the general student population (music appreciation courses and the like). There is a definite, and disturbing, sense of entitlement that seems to be a part of the student undergrad culture. The rationale seems to be “I’ve paid a lot to be a student here, so I should get what I want.” We preach individual responsibility, but this kind of thing seems to be diminishing in our culture. My theory is that if a student hasn’t developed these any of these traits (individual responsibility, ability to be proactive, etc.)before college, it is highly unlikely that they will experience some miraculous transformation at the college level. The bureaucratic response to all the grade and degree inflation is that the universities just aren’t connecting to today’s student, or that the wrong approach is being used, or that we should just throw out content and make all of our classes one big group encounter. Again, doesn’t learning rest in the responsibility of the learner?

  2. amuzikman says:

    Sigh…
    Having just gone through a scenario very similar to this with a student under almost identical circumstances I am saddened to see that it is apparently as pervasive as I suspected.

  3. Sam says:

    If Drake had gotten this grade in a public high school class people would cry about how the school and teacher had let him down. Either it’s the student’s responsibility to learn and perform in the class, or it’s not.

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