I took an entrepreneurship course at the University of Florida last spring. I don’t know who the professor was. I didn’t watch a single lecture. I didn’t read a single page of the textbook. I did nothing other than read the glorious and wonderful Smokin’ Notes and passed with an A.
While this may have been a great way to get out doing countless hours of less than intriguing reading and watching, it did force me to ponder: What am I paying for at this school? What effect do these study services like Smokin’ Notes have on college life?
I’m sure the majority of us have taken a class at one of the various study services around Gainesville. They’re great. The tutors present the material in a way that’s easy to understand and make the tests in various subjects possible to pass. However, have you ever thought about why the tests in some of these courses are so tricky?
I’ll preface the rest of this by saying that I have almost no sources to back up my thoughts. This is a collection of my experiences at the University of Florida as a computer science and telecommunications major and my opinions. You can choose to accept or reject them as you please.
I’m sure you’ve all heard of weed-out courses. They’re the entry-level classes designed to force the weaker students out of certain programs and keep the stronger ones going on. They eliminate the fluff and keep the cream of the crop at the top. Professors must keep a steady number of students passing and failing and thus they make their exams accordingly, because not just anybody gets to be an electrical engineer.
Where do these study services come in? Well, let’s say I’m Professor A who is doing a lot of research and I’m forced with taking up the task of writing an exam, I’m going to do my best to make it a relatively even curve of A’s, B’s, C’s, and D’s. I make it difficult enough so some people will fail and others who have prepared will pass. I hand out the exam, grade them, and uh oh, I have way more A’s than I should have. How did that happen? Half the kids didn’t even show up to class.
Via: evolving-educator.blogspot.com
The entire class went to a tutoring service. Now Professor A has decided he must make the exam more difficult to compensate. The tutoring service also compensates and still too many A’s. This trend continues on and we end up with exams that are not meant to test the knowledge of what was learned in the class, but rather to attempt to trick the students and force some to fail because they haven’t considered every nuance possible in a question.
These study centers aren’t teaching you anything meaningful, they’re teaching you how to pass a certain professors test. It’s a constant battle to stay on top of the tricks these professors throw out.
I want you to ask yourself as a student: do you go to a learning institution or do you go to a job training facility? Do you learn anything by the rote memorization of information from these classes? Is it worth the time to get a formal education?
I’ll go back to my entrepreneurship class. At the same time I was taking it, I was in the process of starting a company (this website is a part of it). I learned much more from the actual process of being an entrepreneur than reading about what fifty-year-old textbook writers think entrepreneurship is. Granted, I did quite little for it, but still this brings me to a point.
You’re better off learning something on your own time by doing that something than by sitting in a classroom reading about it. Obviously for some fields a degree is necessary and important. Regardless, an hour alone doing whatever it is you want to learn will teach you countless more than any amount of time spent in a classroom.
So what now? I say drop out. I dare you. I wish I had. It just took me four years to realize. Hell, the founder of Paypal will pay you to.
Drop out and make something yourself. Learn. Fail. Do something no one else has. Everyone tells you that. It’s the subject of hundreds of motivational posters in high school classrooms across America, the only thing they leave out is that you can do it without a degree.
Or don’t. Keep living the dream of 9-5 drudgery and a shiny red Mercedes. Just don’t be surprised when Jim next door shows up with a Porsche and makes your Mercedes look about as fast as your slightly out of shape middle-aged self.
Let’s be real though, few of you will do this. If you are considering though, I’ll have a post next week to give you a few options of what you could do if you decided to quit and a few options on making time through all the hectic garbage of school to do something important.
I look forward to chatting next week. Until then, toodaloo.
Photo courtesy of: Salon.com
