College; paying someone else to teach yourself.

Reality's Fringe

Reality's Fringe

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There are certain times when I kick back and wonder why I'm even in college. More often than not, these instances usually occur after a professor assigns heavily graded work constituted primarily of material he has never gone over before. Honestly, why am I paying thousands of dollars a year when I could pay $140 for the book and be equally proficient in it? The reason I'm attending a university is to (get this) learn the subject, not spend my nights trying to glean something from blocks of obfuscating text. It doesn't help me learn the material, because I have no real basis to go off of, but this still doesn't stop certain professors from assigning such material and then accounting said work for 40% of my final grade. Thanks, college.

/vent

Anyone else having the same fun?
 
Same here, I buy the textbooks, but I never ever actually read more than a few pages out of them. If all they're teaching is out of the text, than the professor really serves no purpose. That's the reason why I'm going instead of taking online course or whatnot, is for the full expierence of hearing and learning from the professor.
 
Reading that book will not get you the 'paper' you seek to help you in your career.

I feel you. It used to be that only the rich, and students who really wanted to learn went to college. Now damn near everyone goes, making a bachelor's less valueable, causing many more people going to grad school.

Ultimately, this country values money. And most poeple go to college not for the education (tho some do), but to help them financially.
 
yeah...my personal belief is that I shouldn't need a book as anything more than a reference if the teacher is good enough...doesn't often work that way though
 
I'm sitting here doing a public sector econ problem, which should be easy, but it's not for two reasons:
1. We haven't even made it to this chapter yet. In fact, we haven't even made it through the chapter before this one.
2. This text book is written in a manner that makes you want to throw it against the wall. Confusing examples, wording, and progression of material.

The conclusion? I'll probably get a low 'B' or high 'C' on this one at best. I want to fucking choke my professor right now. I don't know what makes them think that this is a viable teaching method.
 
Ive been saying what youre saying for a long time. All I seem to do is just read textbooks and take tests. Even my writing class all the prof does is give us a topic and tell us to go write doesnt tell us how we should write just go write and ill give you a grade. So basically im paying someone a shit load of money just to force me to read and write. Although I do actually learn stuff in my japanese class ^_^
 
consider it a neccessary evil to get a decent job in life... sorry.

if you don't like the way a professor is teaching... approach them. what you learn isn't really important... it's that you learn to question things and learn to think critically. the vast majority of college graduates don't use anymore than 5% of what they learned in their 4(or more) years of school on the job, so it really doesn't matter what you learn or not.
 
I really know how you feel, too.

The problem with college is that going to class to me doesn't seem beneficial. Maybe I'm naive, but it's like... I'm not gaining anything unique. I can read the book on my own and be self-sufficient enough to pass the class with a "C" or above.

I often-times think to myself that I'm not really paying for education. I'm paying money to take tests and getting graded on something I taught myself -- not something they taught me.
 
While you do learn while you are in college, the primary thing you get is the degree at the end.

Keep that in mind. The money, crap homework and all the boring lab work is just to get that piece of paper so the most commonly used phrase in your vocabulary isn't "would you like fries with that?".

TBW
 
College = catch 22

I feel the same way It's really a waste of my time to work around a class schedule and then just listen to someone drone on from a book. I could teach my self most of the stuff and take a test to show my mastery of the skills required for the degree in 1/4 the time it takes to go through todays college system.
 
Reality's Fringe;2343867 said:
Honestly, why am I paying thousands of dollars a year when I could pay $140 for the book and be equally proficient in it?
Click to expand...
For the piece of paper you are handed upon graduating.


Because of the sudden death of my Father during the summer after highschool graduation and before starting freshman year at university, I have not been able to get a formal eduction. I've now got to care for my Mum who doesn't always handle reality terribly well.

An education is something I desire more than anything, as I feel a dolt and a disappointment to my family for not having one. But it's not a possibility with life being the way it is at the moment. So I have taken the advice of a high school mentor and have worn out my library card. I Read, I listen, I look.


I haven't done terribly bad for myself despite the situation. But had I even an undergraduate degree, I'd be far less of a gamble for those considering hiring me. But I have an impressive resume and references, and I'm a good interview. And where did that get me today? A non-paying position at a Not-For-Profit. Ah well.
 
The problem with book learning is that my highschool education was terrible. That's not to say I had bad grades, but I suffered in Math and the sciences, and now it's coming to haunt me. All of my Math skill is basically self-taught, and that makes it difficult when dealing with unexplained statistical analysis. It's almost like someone in remedial math trying to comprehend the regression coefficient just by reading ti from the text.

I like Econ, I really do, but it's shit like this that just makes me not want to fuck with it. Bleh. I can make it through, though. I guess I'm just a bit frustrated.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']For the piece of paper you are handed upon graduating.


Because of the sudden death of my Father during the summer after highschool graduation and before starting freshman year at university, I have not been able to get a formal eduction. I've now got to care for my Mum who doesn't always handle reality terribly well.

An education is something I desire more than anything, as I feel a dolt for not having one. But it's not a possibility with life being the way it is at the moment. So I have taken the advice of a high school mentor and have worn out my library card. I Read, I listen, I look.


I haven't done terribly bad for myself despite the situation. But had I even an undergraduate degree, I'd be far less of a gamble for those considering hiring me. But I have an impressive resume and references, and I'm a good interview. And where did that get me today? A non-paying position at a Not-For-Profit. Ah well.[/QUOTE]

I'm going to say that from everything I've ever seen you post, you are more well educated and well versed than many people I have seen who have gone to college and gotten a degree... hell, than any of the people around me who are at my college. Don't feel bad about not being able to go.

All that piece of paper means is that you can just spit back up what your teachers tell you and what you can read out of a book.

College is all just memorization.

I'm never challenged and I would get all A's if I actually took the time out of the day to try, but I find the whole process boring and I just do what I can to get by.
 
You can just take tests to get those credits, you know, if you really are as smart as you claim to be...

By the way, those who say college is all book learning and memorization, what college do you go through?

That is like the first 2 years at a major university, in classrooms with 500 people. You should go to a community college and get an associates degree, where the class sizes are 16-30. It's more enjoyable that way.
 
[quote name='Quackzilla']You can just take tests to get those credits, you know, if you really are as smart as you claim to be...[/QUOTE]

Wuuzah?

If I were smart enough to skip all of this, I think I would've done that already.

[quote name='Morrigan Lover']What the hell is your problem. College isn't about books or professors. College is about boobies.[/QUOTE]

This is true...Economically speaking, I get more utility from boobies.
 
There's a certain part of classes for learning yourself, but only if the subject matter is able to be learned by oneself...

There are many instances were you should be taught, and I'm with you man, but I guess we all have to go through it
 
Reality's Fringe;2343867 said:
There are certain times when I kick back and wonder why I'm even in college. More often than not, these instances usually occur after a professor assigns heavily graded work constituted primarily of material he has never gone over before. Honestly, why am I paying thousands of dollars a year when I could pay $140 for the book and be equally proficient in it? The reason I'm attending a university is to (get this) learn the subject, not spend my nights trying to glean something from blocks of obfuscating text. It doesn't help me learn the material, because I have no real basis to go off of, but this still doesn't stop certain professors from assigning such material and then accounting said work for 40% of my final grade. Thanks, college.

/vent

Anyone else having the same fun?
Click to expand...

Is your prof a tenure professor or an adjunct? The latter group is often (1) behind the times, (2) underpaid, and (3) totally fucking indifferent (see #2). Thanks to budget increases at many (mostly public) universities and alongside massive funding cuts from the government (all passed on to you, the student, in the form of annual 9.9% tuition increases!), there is a college culture that favors adjunct teachers over tenure track (full-time, paid like a human being) positions.

Hell, we lost one prof last year, and another is leaving in about 6 weeks - we're not replacing those professors at all. This doesn't mean that we're cutting down offered classes, or that tenured profs are taking more on. It means more adjuncts, and possibly more graduate students teaching low-level courses. I hope that's where you're at, and that you're not the victim of some asshole professor who's just coasting on their tenure to retirement (we have one of those in our dept as well).
 
Reality's Fringe;2343867 said:
There are certain times when I kick back and wonder why I'm even in college. More often than not, these instances usually occur after a professor assigns heavily graded work constituted primarily of material he has never gone over before. Honestly, why am I paying thousands of dollars a year when I could pay $140 for the book and be equally proficient in it? The reason I'm attending a university is to (get this) learn the subject, not spend my nights trying to glean something from blocks of obfuscating text. It doesn't help me learn the material, because I have no real basis to go off of, but this still doesn't stop certain professors from assigning such material and then accounting said work for 40% of my final grade. Thanks, college.

/vent

Anyone else having the same fun?
Click to expand...

I had similar problems at a large univeristy so I transfered somewhere much smaller. Just wait until you get a class where the teacher can't teach, doesn't use the book and the only way to actually pass is to latch on to a good TA and hang on for dear life.
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Is your prof a tenure professor or an adjunct?
[/QUOTE]

He's up for tenure, I believe. Don't get me wrong, when the guy actually fucking teaches, he does a good job. It's just that he pulls shit like this way more than he should. He also loves randomly assigning work via email on the weekends, which is also due on the weekend. That is, if you don't check your email on the weekend for osme reason, you can get fucked over.

It's the whole "My class is the most important" syndrome.
 
You're actually paying for the piece of paper that says "Degree in..." on it.

Whether or not you're actually taught anything depends on the prof. I would've killed to be in one of myke's classes.
 
[quote name='Zenithian Legend']You're actually paying for the piece of paper that says "Degree in..." on it.

Whether or not you're actually taught anything depends on the prof. I would've killed to be in one of myke's classes.[/QUOTE]

Meh. I'm still learning to do it well, dahling. If there's one thing I pride myself on, it's that I live and die by class interaction. I bore myself with lectures.

And structure, of course. My OCD demands that both the class and I abide by the syllabus as gospel truth. I do not deviate from what it says on the paper you get on day 1.
 
I stopped buying my textbooks years ago, just a waste.

My favorite is I have to pay the college to do an internship in which I don't get paid. That's always great.
 
The only good instructors I've had have been "part-time professors".

It's hard to give a fuck when my instructor doesn't give a fuck.
 
I have learned a lot in college and believe a lot of it is a waste of time. What else can we do? Our country is awesome but our leadership is ripping us off on a city, state, and national level.

L0ve you all!
 
[quote name='the3rdkey']I have learned a lot in college and believe a lot of it is a waste of time. What else can we do? Our country is awesome but our leadership is ripping us off on a city, state, and national level.

L0ve you all![/QUOTE]

REVOLT!!!

REVOLT!!!
 
[quote name='David85']I stopped buying my textbooks years ago, just a waste.

My favorite is I have to pay the college to do an internship in which I don't get paid. That's always great.[/QUOTE]

this is why you go into a field where interns are held at the standard of being right below the owners of the firm... accounting is one example.
 
It's like what Will says to the preppy boys in Good Will Hunting, you paid a shitload of money to learn the same thing you could have learned by paying $2.50 in late fees to your local library.

In my case, I never went to college because I didn't want to pay all of that money for a piece of paper to get a job I don't want in the first place. I always wanted to start my own business instead. I do regret that I missed out on the whole college experience though. That in itself might be worth the money, or at least some of it.
 
I recently had a friend who graduated from college as an engineer. The college he graduated from is accredited for its engineers, yet he does not work in his field.

Actually, he still works at a Chik-Fil-A as a manager. Things like this make me wonder the chances of being able to work in one's field after graduation. I mean, what's the point of getting a degree if you don't use it.
 
All I can say is that if you're describing your college experience as just sitting in lectures and regurgitating what you're reading in a textbook then you're not maximizing the opportunities your college offers you. You have to take control of your education. The freshman orientation speech when I starting out in college had a good analogy, the gist of which was "most people view college like a vending machine, put in your (at the time) $100,000 and out comes your degree. However, you should view it as a video game, everyone puts in the same quarter but it's up to you as to how high a score you achieve."

I don't think you should view it as simply a stepping stone to a degree. It's an opportunity to broaden your interests and become a well-rounded individual.
 
[quote name='David85']I stopped buying my textbooks years ago, just a waste.

My favorite is I have to pay the college to do an internship in which I don't get paid. That's always great.[/QUOTE]

Where do you go?
 
Well, if anyone still cares, I managed to get full credit on the problem. It would have made more sense if he went over it first though. It would've been MUCH easier in retrospect.
 
[quote name='Deiji']
Actually, he still works at a Chik-Fil-A as a manager. Things like this make me wonder the chances of being able to work in one's field after graduation. I mean, what's the point of getting a degree if you don't use it.[/QUOTE]

WTF! Is the market for engineers that bad?!

At least I'm an accounting major so the job offers will come rolling in. :lol:
 
This is the reason I won't go to college. 10 years ago only certain people went to college, those people made good money and everyone else worked blue collar. Now everyone goes to college thus cheeping the college education, $30,000 grand to go to school, graduate get a job making $25,000 a year. I know a few people that can't even get a job in the field they majored in. College anymore is like the 13th grade. Unless you have super high grades in HS, and then go to a good school your fucked and wasting your money in college IMO.

My HS set people up to go to college. By that I mean your senior years was meant to get everything ready for college. I know some dumb mutherfucka's in college right now and they're scraping by. But they're in college so they're better qualified then I am for a job. Yet in 5 years they will be like everyone else in Dayton, working retail or in a factory.

I know people that are going to college for various computer majors, and I say 90% of them don't know the most basic keyboard shortcuts. Hell sometimes they ask me on AIM for help. But they're still passing with C's.
 
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