Is college really about learning?

[Connemara]

A lot of what I have learned in college has been from independent study ignited by something read/discussed in class. I think I've learned a great deal since transferring to a better school and I am pleased about that.

But yes, there is "the game" aspect. I confess to taking courses with reputedly easy professors to pad my GPA.

 

[Pennglock]

This 'gaming' aspect is a pretty strong argument in favor of grading on a pre-determined curve of As, Bs, and Cs. My undergrad school did this, and personally I found it easier to score As in the most difficult classes because the spread was wider, and silly little mistakes on an exam wouldn't cost you your ass.

 

[Milhouse]

Originally Posted by Teacher

These people never cease to amaze me. Didn't anybody tell them they weren't gods?

They denied tenure to my favorite professor there. . . he had a habit of being well liked by the students. As opposed to asshats like mr "I need to find the geniuses"...

 

[MetroStyles]

Originally Posted by Pennglock

This 'gaming' aspect is a pretty strong argument in favor of grading on a pre-determined curve of As, Bs, and Cs. My undergrad school did this, and personally I found it easier to score As in the most difficult classes because the spread was wider, and silly little mistakes on an exam wouldn't cost you your ass.

You fool. This makes way too much sense to ever be implemented.

 

[MrNick]

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain

College for most people isn't about learning but getting a degree for a resume and networking. I despise college thus far but need a degree for my resume. Maybe once I go to a real college things will be different and I'll be able to learn. I get to waste my time in my English class with a "professor" who thinks she is 12 and gossips and talks about sex most the time.

 

[Milhouse]

Originally Posted by MrNick

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain

College for most people isn't about learning but getting a degree for a resume and networking. I despise college thus far but need a degree for my resume. Maybe once I go to a real college things will be different and I'll be able to learn. I get to waste my time in my English class with a "professor" who thinks she is 12 and gossips and talks about sex most the time.

Is she hot?

I had a professor that used her cat for every example she discussed. That was truly painful.

 

[Helix]

Originally Posted by Milhouse

I had a math prof that literally told us that grades were worthless because they didn't leave him enough bandwidth to determine who the real geniuses were. Our exams usually had means in the 35 to 40% range. He also wanted the SD to be pretty tight (say 5 or 10% tops) so that he had plenty of room to catch the people that were 2 or 3 SDs above the mean.

This meant every exam had about 50% material that we had never seen or heard of before. That prof was a dick, and his grade policy didn't do him any favors.

Methinks he watched Good Will Hunting about a dozen times too many (and maybe got hit on the head with something heavy and blunt) and is now trying to make up for a probably long and storied history of failure by becoming mentor to a savant.

It is beyond me that people still use a static grading scale. Thankfully I don't have to deal with it in most of my classes since physics and engineering classes tend to have low averages. Everyone would have 2s if there were no curve.

 

[MrNick]

Originally Posted by Milhouse

Is she hot?

I had a professor that used her cat for every example she discussed. That was truly painful.

No, she's old and crazy.

 

[Milhouse]

Originally Posted by Helix

Methinks he watched Good Will Hunting about a dozen times too many (and maybe got hit on the head with something heavy and blunt) and is now trying to make up for a probably long and storied history of failure by becoming mentor to a savant.

It is beyond me that people still use a static grading scale. Thankfully I don't have to deal with it in most of my classes since physics and engineering classes tend to have low averages. Everyone would have 2s if there were no curve.

Engineering, hmm . . . you'll appreciate more of the story then. His class was multivariable and vector calculus (calc 103). I remember the first exam had questions asking us to prove laplace and fourier. It got worse from there.

Of course, that was freshman year, so I didn't know that this wasn't normal.

 

[Helix]

Wow wtf... My vector cal prof made us hand in about 20-25 pages worth of hw on the day of each test (about every 3-4 weeks) which was pretty awful but that is just...

.

 

[pseudonym]

Months in, I already understand why people are saying college is just a "game."

 

[poorsod]

Originally Posted by Milhouse

I had a math prof that literally told us that grades were worthless because they didn't leave him enough bandwidth to determine who the real geniuses were. Our exams usually had means in the 35 to 40% range. He also wanted the SD to be pretty tight (say 5 or 10% tops) so that he had plenty of room to catch the people that were 2 or 3 SDs above the mean.

This meant every exam had about 50% material that we had never seen or heard of before. That prof was a dick, and his grade policy didn't do him any favors.

Many of my class were like that. The profs wanted to find the best students so they can train them. OTOH the math dept was quite strong. One year, 3 of the top 5 Putnam scorers lived on my floor.

 

[emptym]

Athens: For I do nothing but go about persuading you all, old and young alike, not to take thought for your persons and your properties, but first and chiefly to care about the greatest improvement of the soul. I tell you that virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue come money and every other good of man, public as well as private. This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed (Socrates, Apology). Jerusalem: Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you...?... Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides (Jesus, Mt 6:28-33).

 

[Hartmann]

thank you leo s.

 

[HedgeFundHotSHot]

College is about joining the Bullingdon.