The Problem With Modern Education

The Problem With Modern Education

Mark Edmundson provides a graphic portrayal of his opinion of college students and professors. He states that after the baby boom, "College became a buyers market. What students and their parents wanted had to be taken more and more into account. That usually meant creating more comfortable, less challenging environments, places where almost no one failed, everything was enjoyable, and everyone was nice" (Edmundson 153). Other authors, such as Brent Staples and John Holt also support this opinion.

The belief that college professors are getting soft and students are getting lazy is not a new idea. These thoughts have been progressing towards their current state since the late 1980's. Brent Staples believes that many college departments, especially those in the humanities, shower students with higher grades in order to keep low-demand classes at the minimum enrollment. "As a result of the university's widening elective leeway, students have more power over teachers" (Edmundson 153). For example, at Drexel University, and many universities across the country, they are doing away with tenure and more and more professors are part-time, and have no security in their job. This leads to professors tailoring their instruction to what the student, the "consumer" wants and needs.

Though the pressure on the professors to lower standards is very strong, there is little pressure put on students to perform to the standards that college used to be defined by. John Holt insists that school does nothing but corrupt young students and make them less curious, wise, and intuitive than they were before. College used to be a rite of passage for the few chosen intellectuals who would choose to broaden their horizons by means of further education. Higher education no longer gives students the knowledge they will need to succeed in the real working world. College has become so lax that students merely get an extension of their high school education. A college degree does not get you as far as it used to. These authors believe this is a result of the consumerism that drives America today.

From personal experience, these accusations are not far from the truth. For example, I was talking to a girl who lives in my dormitory, and she was complaining about a class. She said that she was going to drop a history class because the professor never gives out A's, and she couldn't afford to have that negative affect of her grade point average. Also, my classes so far are not that different from my classes in high school. Even with mid term exams, many professors are inflating the grades so that a perfect bell curve of grades exists -with the most C's and less numbers of B's, A's, D's and F's. This attitude towards college courses could be the result of attending a college preparatory private high school, or it could be the result of the downfall of elitism and the rapid lowering of the traditional college standards.

Though these portrayals of college life are mostly accurate, it is unfair to stereotype ALL college students and professors. There will always be the occasional "Joon Lee" who excels both in and out of the classroom. Joon Lee is "endlessly curious, has read a small library's worth, seen every movie, and knows all about showbiz and entertainment" (Edmundson 148).