While obviously meant to be a joke, in ways it's not too far off.

Started college in 2000 and life had its own plans. After spreading a few years at some jobs and experiencing corporate life a little I decided to finish my degrees after my jobs contract was up rather than sign up for another round.

There's a huge difference between how classes are taught now and only 20 years ago. Schools have embraced the "flipped classroom" model where in theory what's supposed to happen is the students learn the material on their own at home, come to class where the instructor QUICKLY skims over what you were supposed to learn, then 50-75% of the time is spent in groups going over problems. In theory.....but that's not how it works. In practice 95% of the students DON'T do the "learning on your own" part at home and the only time they're taught is in the brief overview in the classroom. They don't do the home shit for many reasons...in college we just have too much shit going on, in lower grades...well they're fucking kids and of course kids aren't going to read text books if it's not actually assigned and the teacher will just go over it anyway.

The result is that the bar has fallen lower to account for the lower average performance. Some classes actually have "group tests" where quizzes and sometimes even midterms and finals are group based. And of course you pass because students essentially crowdsource the correct answers.

And this was pre covid...the bar is even lower now because instructors can't teach at 100% virtually and students aren't 100% engaged virtually.

I recall 20 years ago instructors actually teaching the material and using texts to reiterate the important information if I needed it. Then doing homework. Now there is no reading, the instruction is a third to half as long, then a lot of fumbling around for answers and passing grades still getting handed out....it's kind of a fucking joke to be honest.

I have a theory why they made the change, money. With the way they have it setup now they can utilize lower quality instructors to teach larger classes and keep their paying students happy by passing them. The. claim that they're being cutting edge by forcing students to learn how to work in groups because "that's how it works in the real world."

While obviously meant to be a joke, in ways it's not too far off.

Started college in 2000 and life had its own plans. After spreading a few years at some jobs and experiencing corporate life a little I decided to finish my degrees after my jobs contract was up rather than sign up for another round.

There's a huge difference between how classes are taught now and only 20 years ago. Schools have embraced the "flipped classroom" model where in theory what's supposed to happen is the students learn the material on their own at home, come to class where the instructor QUICKLY skims over what you were supposed to learn, then 50-75% of the time is spent in groups going over problems. In theory.....but that's not how it works. In practice 95% of the students DON'T do the "learning on your own" part at home and the only time they're taught is in the brief overview in the classroom. They don't do the home shit for many reasons...in college we just have too much shit going on, in lower grades...well they're fucking kids and of course kids aren't going to read text books if it's not actually assigned and the teacher will just go over it anyway.

The result is that the bar has fallen lower to account for the lower average performance. Some classes actually have "group tests" where quizzes and sometimes even midterms and finals are group based. And of course you pass because students essentially crowdsource the correct answers.

And this was pre covid...the bar is even lower now because instructors can't teach at 100% virtually and students aren't 100% engaged virtually.

I recall 20 years ago instructors teaching the material and using texts to reiterate the important information if I needed it. Then doing homework. Now there is no reading, the instruction is a third to half as long, then a lot of fumbling around for answers and passing grades still getting handed out....it's kind of a fucking joke to be honest.

While obviously meant to be a joke, in ways it's not too far off.

Started college in 2000 and life had its own plans. After spreading a few years at some jobs and experiencing corporate life a little I decided to finish my degrees after my jobs contract was up rather than sign up for another round.

There's a huge difference between how classes are taught now and only 20 years ago. Schools have embraced the "flipped classroom" model where in theory what's supposed to happen is the students learn the material on their own at home, come to class where the instructor QUICKLY skims over what you were supposed to learn, then 50-75% of the time is spent in groups going over problems. In theory.....but that's not how it works. In practice 95% of the students DON'T do the "learning on your own" part at home and the only time they're taught is in the brief overview in the classroom. They don't do the home shit for many reasons...in college we just have too much shit going on, in lower grades...well they're fucking kids and of course kids aren't going to read text books if it's not actually assigned and the teacher will just go over it anyway.

The result is that the bar has fallen lower to account for the lower average performance. Some classes actually have "group tests" where quizzes and sometimes even midterms and finals are group based. And of course you pass because students essentially crowdsource the correct answers.

And this was pre covid...the bar is even lower now because instructors can't teach at 100% virtually and students aren't 100% engaged virtually.

I recall 20 years ago reading chapters out of texts we were being taught from, instructors reiterating the important information. Then doing homework. Now there is no reading, the instruction is a third to half as long, then a lot of fumbling around for answers and passing grades still getting handed out....it's kind of a fucking joke to be honest.

While obviously meant to be a joke, in ways it's not too far off.

Started college in 2000 and life had its own plans. After spreading a few years at some jobs and experiencing corporate life a little I decided to finish my degrees after my jobs contract was up rather than sign up for another round.

There's a huge difference between how classes are taught now and only 20 years ago. Schools have embraced the "flipped classroom" model where in theory what's supposed to happen is the students learn the material on their own at home, come to class where the instructor QUICKLY skims over what you were supposed to learn, then 50-75% of the time is spent in groups going over problems. In theory.....but that's not how it works. In practice 95% of the students DON'T do the "learning on your own" part at home and the only time they're taught is in the brief overview in the classroom. They don't do the home shit for many reasons...in college we just have too much shit going on, in lower grades...well they're fucking kids and of course kids aren't going to read text books of it's not actually assigned and the teacher will just go over it anyway.

The result is that the bar has fallen lower to account for the lower average performance. Some classes actually have "group tests" where quizzes and sometimes even midterms and finals are group based. And of course you pass because students essentially crowdsource the correct answers.

And this was pre covid...the bar is even lower now because instructors can't teach at 100% virtually and students aren't 100% engaged virtually.

I recall 20 years ago reading chapters out of texts we were being taught from, instructors reiterating the important information. Then doing homework. Now there is no reading, the instruction is a third to half as long, then a lot of fumbling around for answers and passing grades still getting handed out....it's kind of a fucking joke to be honest.