“A Vision of Students Today” and College Effort
I’ve become a fan of the blog of Paul Stamatiou, an undergrad student here at Georgia Tech. He’s got a knack for writing about technology and covers some interesting things that other blogs only throw passing glances at in their hurry to post every bit of news. Yesterday he posted a video that was created by Kansas State University professor Michael Wesch about college students in the digital age called “A Vision of Students Today.” While compelling, the video does not elaborate on the facts presented (and who would expect it to when it’s supposed to be moving rhetoric?).
I had responded to a few things in the video in Paul’s comment section, but my comment never appeared and it wouldn’t let me double-post it. Good thing I saved it in a text document before posting. I decided to bring it back home and make a few of my points here.
I would be interested to compare this “study” to trends in the past. Students have always been distracted, they just now have something else in front of them to which they turn their attention. I won’t blindly defend laptop use in class, even though I’m a laptop person myself. I first started using it not to take notes, but to bring PDF readings to class so that I could save paper and ink. Pencil in hand, I would sit with the laptop out and a spiral notebook on top of the keyboard. I also like being able to look up related information. Don’t remember who pioneered structuralism? Turn to Wikipedia for a fast fact. Laptops don’t have to be a distraction as long as the student has self control.
Let me preface my next point by saying that I’m speaking from a humanities perspective and I know the issue changes based on which discipline you’re studying.
I know I’m in the minority: during my undergrad years and my current GT grad tenure I have done at least 90% of my reading. I do it for a number of reasons. Firstly, I do it to expand my horizons and to focus on more than what I would need to know for an exam. Secondly, I like to be able to participate in class discussion in an informed way. The numbers given in the video don’t really say if doing x% of the reading means that amount from all the materials assigned or only that percentage of the individual texts. When I read I need to read it all. I feel like I’ve been assigned the reading for a reason and it’s my responsibility to take on that task — and this is where I feel a lot of people get lost.
Judging by the multitude of students I’ve chatted with in the many classes I’ve taken in my life, people who aren’t doing the reading aren’t lazy, but rather they don’t feel that the effort is equal to the results. This takes many forms: “we don’t talk about it,” “we learn everything from the readings in our lecture,” and “there’s too much given what we’re supposed to take away from it.” I can understand these arguments. The one’s I can’t understand and can’t support are “we’re not going to be tested on it” and “this doesn’t apply to what I want to do.”
Professors and students need to meet each other half-way on the issue of reading. Professors need to to understand that time and money are two of the most valuable things for students. Please don’t ask us to buy a $26 book just to read one chapter out of it. And don’t assign 200 pages of reading when 90 will produce the same result. Also, make the reading worth our time by discussing it in class. Students: realize that you’re professors are teaching the class for a reason and doing the assigned work can be a valuable thing. Also, reward the professors that assign reasonable amounts of work by actually participating. A successful professor with a working teaching model might just influence other people in the department. Most importantly, don’t be lazy and don’t forget what you’re paying thousands of dollars a year to do: learn.
