Going Through the Motions in Undergrad Courses

So much of what is learned as an undergrad is impractical and unimportant to students, especially outside of one's major or minor. There is little humanity in the liberal arts and humanities, social sciences, fine arts and other disciplines, as they are taught in much of US higher education.

Mandatory classes often have little or no meaning to students other than as a ticket to punch. They are at best esoteric. Or worse, folks see these courses as a series of lies.  And they know how to play the game of looking studious and compliant for better grades. Many are also willing to cheat to slide through in an increasingly competitive the job market. 

 

 

Sensing that students don't care or don't have the time to care about their classes, teachers may make undergrad courses easy blow off courses instead of something to challenge their imaginations. 

 

Teachers may rely on their star students for gratification, believing that former students will have delayed light bulb moments. 

 

And there are professors, adjuncts, and teaching assistants who are too overworked or distracted to care. 

It's often worse where students, faculty, and content creators are nothing but numbers: in large auditoriums and online education, especially at robocolleges. In that case, the level of caring can be nearly zero. 

Does it have to be that way in undergrad education? Our answer is no. And others agree with us.  But yet things do not change radically under higher ed bureaucracies, especially when administrators, teachers, and students are going through the motions.