Comments (9)

1. Posted this link in www.surfurls.com

   posted by gibsy on 5-16-2008 at 5:11 am

2. The Atlantic article drips with self-contempt. I really regret having read it first thing in the morning.

   posted by Ira on 5-16-2008 at 7:58 am

3. I kinda liked The Atlantic article, mostly because I decided not to go down the path of being an English teacher for fear of having the things I’m most passionate about in life daily mocked.

   posted by Stacey on 5-16-2008 at 10:24 am

4. The Atlantic article was very good.

   posted by Allison on 5-16-2008 at 11:33 am

5. I enjoyed the Atlantic article, but two things stood out to me.

   Universities/community colleges already have a graveyard shift. It is called On-line learning. I completed almost half of my degree on-line and most of it was done after midnight when my kids were in bed and I was done with everything else for the day.

   I recently returned to school and graduated just before turning 40. I attended 3 different community colleges and two universities. I can tell you there is pressure to pass these stuents and most do. They receive funding just like other schools and it is based on grades and graduation rates.

   I had very few classes that actually required me to produce college level work. In the community colleges in particular, my classes were filled with dual enrolled high school students. I had one instructor that let me read the papers that were submitted in class. She did not reveal names. There was only ONE paper out of a class of twenty something that was even readable. It was unbelievable.

   I’m all for as many people going to college as possible, but if they are not capable of doing college level work, then we need to have them take more non-credit classes to bring them up to that level.

   posted by Karen on 5-16-2008 at 12:37 pm

6. Oh I thought it was good, it was just really bleak in a way that’s barely “allowed” any more outside of fiction writing.

   posted by Ira on 5-16-2008 at 12:40 pm

7. Karen: CONGRATS!!!!! My mother graduated from college at age 42. It does take a bit of catching up when you go back after so many years. You have to get back in the swing of things.

   My thoughts on the Atlantic Monthly article: First off, they are really going down hill. First an article on why women should settle for the first guy that will have them. Now this? Geez….

   I found the attitude of the writer really pompous. And I am wondering if her students are not picking up on clues to how she really feels which might be causing some of the problems she is having. I have talked with friends at other schools and they tell me the same thing: All universities are alike with the same problems, complaints, etc.

   Karen is correct in that there is pressure to pass and graduate. That is everywhere. But as much as professors and instructors moan about students who can’t think or do work, they get just as upset about the truly talented students who can think and do outstanding work (then we are “questioning their expertise”). So basically, it is a lose-lose situation. And of course, there are really exceptional exceptions to this, too.

   In my work, graduate and undergraduate, I pretty much do what I have to do and I don’t care what professors think of me. As one of my old grad profs said “Sue, you are not here to make friends. You are here to learn and to get where you want to go. Don’t worry about professors or what they think. You keep your eye on the end result.” That is what I tell my friends and students who are upset because they are expected to dumb themselves down for whatever reason.

   posted by Sue on 5-16-2008 at 1:38 pm

8. I agree with the Atlantic article.

   I have attended a community college, major university, and a small business school and all of them have students that just don’t belong. That was what the “weeder” courses were for, correct?I recall some of my classmates went to college just because everyone else was or because they just didn’t know what else to do.

   I just finished my MBA last year, and, even at that level, there were still many students who were in over their heads. In my very last course, the professor had to take ten minutes in one of the classes to explain simple grammer concepts, such as the difference between their/they’re and your/you’re because some of the papers were so poorly written.

   What really upset me was the professors who held up the class to hold the hands of the dolts to get them through.

   posted by Brian on 5-16-2008 at 2:43 pm

9. I thought the Atlantic article was interesting, and I agree with some of the points, but the author’s reluctance to articulate a conclusion was telling. If the conclusion is that some people don’t belong in collge because they are totally incapable of completing the simplest work, what does that mean? The author’s conclusion seems to be that some people are simply incapable of it.

   To me, the assertion that anyone (excluding those who do not speak English as a native language and those with severe learning problems) cannot write a coherent sentence after, what, twelve years of school is appalling. It suggests that something is seriously wrong with our education system.

   I am aware that my world view is narrow and biased, and that I’m speaking from a position of privilege, but the conclusion that some people are just totally incapable of writing/speaking/thinking coherently and never will be is unacceptable to me.

   posted by bob on 5-17-2008 at 5:53 am

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