A college education isn't just for the best and the brightest. It's for everyone. And don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful thing that children from low income families have a greater opportunity to attend college, but there is a problem. And that problem is the adoption of the
consumer mentality of today's students. The idea that they
paid for a degree and dammit, they're going to get one. That idea of an
undeniable right, not to receive an
education, but to
get a
degree.
It is widely believed among the students I come in contact with on a daily basis that if they do not do well in a class it is because of the teacher. There is an
influx of students who do not show up for half of their scheduled classes, do not
participate in class, do not do any work outside of class that is not to be graded, and do not seek extra help when they need it. Yet these are the very students who will be the
first to
complain to the department head about the professor. I just cannot understand where this attitude of deserving comes from. And deserving is the correct word, these kids think they deserve to pass, not because of any amount of effort or work they put into the class, but because they paid for it. As a future teacher I find that attitude to be disgusting.
I am a
woman, studying
mathematics, and I currently have a professor who is
biased towards the men in the class. I have some difficulties with him and I plan on making those known at some point, but I worry that my
valid complaints will be ignored because of all the
nonsense I was referring to above. It's a bit like
the boy who cried wolf, I suppose.
Note: I completely agree with knifegirl's comments. When I started this node the point I was trying to make was that a college education isn't for the best and the brightest *anymore*. I did not want to give the impression that I thought a college education should be for the middle-upper class alone.
And I have noticed this 'consumer mentality' among(amongst?) all students, from what I know it doesn't seem to be isolated within one group of students. But I wouldn't hesitate to speculate that it started with the middle class students and spread from there.