(Are MTSU students more studious than Harvard's?)
Many students don't do the reading and don't speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change a campus culture they say hurts achievement and stifles speech.
Harvard University is one of the most difficult schools to gain admission to, with the school turning away some 97 percent of applicants every year.
But once they get in, many of its students skip class and fail to do the reading, according to the Classroom Social Compact Committee, a group of seven faculty members that produced a report on Harvard's classroom culture that has been fueling debate since it was released in January.
When they do show up for class, they are focused on their devices, and are reluctant to speak out. Sometimes it is because they are afraid of sharing ideas that others will disagree with. But often, they have not read enough of the homework to make a meaningful contribution, the report continued.
Rampant grade inflation allows them to coast through anyway, it concluded.
That means many students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=em-share
Many students don't do the reading and don't speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change a campus culture they say hurts achievement and stifles speech.
Harvard University is one of the most difficult schools to gain admission to, with the school turning away some 97 percent of applicants every year.
But once they get in, many of its students skip class and fail to do the reading, according to the Classroom Social Compact Committee, a group of seven faculty members that produced a report on Harvard's classroom culture that has been fueling debate since it was released in January.
When they do show up for class, they are focused on their devices, and are reluctant to speak out. Sometimes it is because they are afraid of sharing ideas that others will disagree with. But often, they have not read enough of the homework to make a meaningful contribution, the report continued.
Rampant grade inflation allows them to coast through anyway, it concluded.
That means many students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=em-share
This relates to ideas i've had about lectures in general. If the lecture simply goes over the same facts and ideas as the reading, is it a waste of time to show up? If the professor explains these ideas worse than the textbook and students have clear enough instructions for the assignments, why go to class? Some professors incentivize students to attend by counting attendance as a grade, or having regular in person quizzes. Some students only go to class because they have to ask clarifying questions regarding assignments. I think lectures can be an incredibly helpful and important part of one's education, but when students have such limited time, they have to decide if attending class is worth it.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree about the lectures being the same as the homework. I have had a math teacher that was so bad at teaching and rushed through the material so fast that I ended up teaching myself most of the material. It really made wanting to go to class hard, because I knew I would spend the same amount of time trying to understand it on my own.
DeleteI feel like as students, we are so worried about how we are perceived socially that we pick and choose what to say about what we think, actively editing our thoughts into socially-acceptable language so that we do not commit a social faux-pas or "put one's foot in their mouth".
ReplyDeletePardon the generalization, but we have a fear or avoidance towards embarrassing ourselves in front of other people (especially teachers and peers) because of what we think will occur (we'll be looked at oddly, frowned upon, called "weird" or "awkward") just for voicing our opinion. I think that may be a part of the reason why in person discussion feels like pulling teeth sometimes, with a classroom sitting in unbearable silence until someone has the courage to get the ball rolling.
So, at the end of the day, is it truly worth it to come to class if all that's going to happen is a lecture reviewing and expanding upon the reading last night and a discussion where no one speaks their mind in fear of backlash? I wonder...
In my time here at MTSU I have found that a lot of my peers are respectful enough to let me speak my mind on things and not think any different of me. I know that it is not the same at all schools, but I think this respect and understanding has enabled me to engage in really meaningful conversations. I think cancel culture has killed the concept of conversation and argument.
ReplyDeleteI try not to use my laptop in class unless I really need to. I hate when I see people in my classes with a whole laptop and Ipad setup out. What do you need all of those screens for? I liked the example of the teacher with the device free zone in the classroom. We should do that more.
I have definitely had classes this semester with way too much assigned reading. It is very hard to balance five classes, especially when you're assigned 200 pages of reading every week. I can only imagine what kind of course load the Harvard students have, and I can empathize with them. Some weeks you just have to choose if you want to complete the assigned reading or have any sort of fun.
There's part of the problem: reading--ANY amount of reading-- is perceived by students (present company excluded, I hope) to be NOT "fun"... And profs get the impression that none of the assignments are being read, so they feel obliged to go over material in class that SHOULD have been read but probably wasn't. When I ask questions about assignments, I'm often met with blank stares... and don't know if people are being reticent because they haven't done the reading, or because they're afraid of being negatively judged by peers & profs, or ...?
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