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2/23/2009
The entitlement society
Did you see this article Friday (included in FP News)? Some surveyed college kids believe they deserve a B for simply showing up. Dang it. Is it still another result of the ‘entitlement society‘ we’re producing?
A study conducted at the University of California-Irvine produced empirical data showing students feel entitled to good grades based on effort alone.
“I think students do feel entitled for grades, but I think the explanation for that has a lot do with how they’ve been trained to work through their K-12 experiences,” said Aaron Brower, vice provost for teaching and learning at the University of Wisconsin. “In high school, people laid out … a cookbook formula to get the [desired] grade.”
…. Brower added students who come to the university are used to getting good grades and do not know how to react when the same effort they put into high school classes does not yield the same result in college. Two different points of view:
…. “I’m 5-foot-8. If I go to the gym to lift weights and practice my jump shot every day on end, I won’t make it to the NBA. The same thing applies to college. You can study for hours on end but you still have to be able to perform. Effort should be commended but should not become a substitute for achievement,” UW freshman Jason Segal said.
UW freshman Sara Waller said hard work should merit better results, and test scores should not be the only grade-evaluating factor. “If you do everything and try really hard … I’m the worst test taker known to [the world] — you can even ask my dad. If you know all the concepts and are just a bad test taker, I don’t think that’s fair (to get a low grade),” Waller said. Hmmm. My dad must have been more like Jason’s dad, teaching me to work hard, set goals, achieve goals and always remember … life’s not fair.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
I saw the story from the Badger Herald. There was an original by-line on it. In the comments area, a poster pointed out that the story originally appeared in the New York Times. No attribution was given.
The Badger Herald is a right wing financed paper offering their journalism at UW along with the Cardinal. For all I know, the Cardinal has as much news as The Onion.
Is The Badger Herald entitled to give stories without attribution?
Still I thought the story and raising the subject was very good.
Higher education is a commodity these days. That doesn't mean entitlement, it means paying for a degree. I'll conjecture that it also means putting four years of Spring Break (Yay!) on your student loan.
For all these reasons college is overrated and benefits far fewer than actually engage in the activity. What many get is a big bill for a loan which is usurious at the end of it and wind up in 'the service sector.'
Also there is this: a former commentator at WPR from the mass media department of UW told me that he as a teacher had to submit to a performance rating from the students (like he was a waiter at a restaurant being rated on his service.) This re-emphasizes the commodification of higher education.
For a look at the lack of preparation in real terms for higher education as compared with the rest of the world, find a copy of the documentary "Two Million Minutes." Two million minutes is the amount of time spent in high school.
http://www.2mminutes.com/products/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1&idcategory=2
Lon Ponschock (Mon Feb 23 09:11:35 2009)
" In the comments area, a poster pointed out that the story originally appeared in the New York Times. No attribution was given."
I'm not sure attribution needs to be given - the story in the NYT and the Herald cover the same survey at UC-Irvine and are similar in format but they're not the same.
And, really, how different can a story like that be? You name the survey, find some quotable sources and you're done.
Brian Dunbar (Mon Feb 23 10:55:24 2009)
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