What happened to Learning?
Two recent articles about student expectations in higher education seem to fit together and are highly recommended.
The first appeared in the NY Times on February 17, 2009 and was entitled: “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes.” In essence, it reports that over the course of their pre-higher education lives, students have been led to believe that hard work is the goal and that actual learning is not as important. Whether students actually have a good idea of what hard work IS relative to learning is another issue. The article seems to draw the point that to many students, not “easy” defines “hard work” and should equate to a good grade.
Related to this article is a piece in the Christian Science Monitor on Grade Inflation ( “Grade Inflation Gone Wild“, March 24, 2009). It points out that without a very strong and conscious effort to keep them from inflating, grades in higher education have significantly inflated. The author attributes easy high grades to a lack of effort on the part of students and, by extension to an abundance of free time contributing to the alcohol problem on campuses.