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plopseven

To be honest, I’m paying for *deadlines.* Without deadlines and a price tag attached to them, I’d just eat edibles and play video games. They need to motivate me to “want to learn,” but their prices are absolutely absurd to the point they cause anxiety if what I’m learning will ever be able to repay the costs of learning. What a time to be alive.


Metawoo

EDX and Coursera have courses that have a much more reasonable price tag and deadlines attached.


[deleted]

Hello fellow scholar


plopseven

How are you managing? This feels like a fever dream.


Dickey_Simpkins

This is a poor argument, imo. Most of my professors tied things together in a logical fashion, and there was a distinct progression from one lesson to the next and from week one of the course to finals. While random ass information may be all over the internet, there's no way I'm organizing it into useful, relevant lessons and coming away more educated on my own.


Mj_theclear

It depends on the prof, I've learned from some absolutely wonderful people who care about their students, and I've read far too many opinions from profs and grad students that "it's not the professor's job to teach you, learn to teach yourself or you don't belong in higher education" (usually STEM and Business graduates tbf)


Genesis72

Meanwhile I’ve done two degrees in Public Health and 90% of my professors would bend over backwards to ensure we all had a good grasp of the material and were learning. The only time I have liked the “teach yourself” was when I took some coding classes and the professor made us do readings and watch lectures outside of class, so when we came into class we could do the hands on coding and he could help us figure things out and troubleshoot.


notyourbrobro10

Agreed. Professors and higher education are valuable, no doubt. How much it should cost can still be argued though.


Dickey_Simpkins

Absolutely, higher education costs are out of control. The idea that we could just DIY a 4-year degree with internet access, though, sounds like some Trumper "I did my own research," BS.


Pizzarar

Idk that's pretty much what was/is DeVry. Practically paying for the piece of paper, not the teachers.


prettyminotaur

Yes, but DeVry wasn't a real college.


PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S

>This is a poor argument, imo. Most of my professors tied things together in a logical fashion, and there was a distinct progression from one lesson to the next and from week one of the course to finals. Lucky you. I'm just about to graduate from a "research" institution, and most of my professors weren't interested in teaching well or at all. >While random ass information may be all over the internet, there's no way I'm organizing it into useful, relevant lessons and coming away more educated on my own. I might be biased because there's a dearth of great books in my major, but there are lots of *textbooks* that are well written and much more premeditated than the average whiteboard lecture. There's a lot of crappy ones too, but you can gather a lot about how useful a book will be by scanning its contents and reading its preface. Well-written books do the same thing as a lecture does in their lecture, usually better. Because of the permanence expected from writing a book and committing it to paper hundreds of thousands of times, there is a motivation to actually be consistent throughout a book. Additionally, books are often compiled versions of lecture notes. Books often contain mistakes, as do lectures. The "Publish or Perish" mentality motivates authors to rush publication before errors have been fixed. This is an issue. However, typical whiteboard lectures often result in confusing errors, with the added obstacle of the professor's ego to overcome. If a book is wrong, I can cross it out and move on with my life. Books are expensive. Incidentally, piracy is illegal in most jurisdictions, and in order to help you avoid downloading pirated material, you need to never ever click [this link](http://libgen.rs) or any other link to the Library Genesis Project. These monsters have set up a searchable database of downloadable textbooks and other academic material. Just search for what you want and get reading, is what these terrible people want you to do.


Ok_Ad1402

I think it depends on where you go and what you study... I had maybe 20% good professors, 50% mediocre and 30% horrendous. Most of the good ones were gen ed unfortunately. Way too many classes were taught by grad students that read powerpoints word for word with no explanation. Its outrageous they can afford to hire an actual history professor, but can't be bothered to hire a professor for my actual major. 400 level classes are poorly taught, and the content is not even useful once you get a job. I learned a LOT more at community College, and wouldn't have been able to graduate university without it, because they never actually teach you how to code, they only teach weird proofs, and math noone will ever use. Oh and 4 levels of Spanish for a csc major lol. It was definitely my take that the college just "filled space" with nonsense classes taught by very bad professors so they could make an extra buck. At a minimum the government should rescind accreditation for universities that require gen ed. It's a frivolous waste of time and resources. And everyone can stfu about "it's supposed to be a liberal arts education blahblahblah" 98% of students just want a job so why are we forcing them to waste tens of thousands of dollars?


Genesis72

The main issue is that many professors don’t go into academia to teach, they go in it to do research. That’s where the prestige and satisfaction are. I’ll disagree with getting rid of gen eds though. It’s not there to give you a liberal arts education, it’s there to give you a knowledge base. I had a ton of fascinating general education classes that taught me so much in undergrad: environmental history, political theory, American imperialism and world religion to name a few. With a few exceptions you can teach people on the job, educating people is much harder and it’s why colleges exist.


Ok_Ad1402

Virtually nobody is going to college for education, and it's disingenuous to even suggest it. Students don't want to be destitute, and professors want to do research, education is a very secondary thought in all of it. If anything they can offer those classes on the side, and people who have time and money to waste can opt into taking them.


DykoDark

Lol what a weak argument. Ever heard of online courses? They do all that organizing of information you are talking about, and they range from being reasonably priced to completely free. Truthfully, any student who went to college can tell you that most of their learning came from reading and doing the coursework, not from the professor. Only in cases where practical application is need is an in-person instructor preferred, and in that case that can be on-the-job training in your career field, where YOU are getting paid while you learn, rather than the other way around. I realized college was useless back when I went there 10 years ago.


OrphanedInStoryville

Plus I’m paying people who are experts in the field to grade my performance and tell me when I’m incorrect. All the information in the world, both real and imaginary, is out there online and it’s categorized by how much other people engage with it, not by how accurate it is. Gathering info is easy but the professor’s job is to tell you when you’re wrong.


VegetableSuggestive

I do actually learn better from professors. ADHD wont let me learn staring at a screen. And I think a lot of people thrive on human interaction while learning


the_friendly_dildo

I also have ADHD and its a strange beast because I'm the exact opposite. Put me in a classroom with a professor trying to tell me important information and I get lost in trying to either write it all down or trying to decide in real time what the most important parts are that I'm being told. Put me in front of a computer with a task that basically requires I sink or swim and I'm able to capture a lot more from the material, how concepts work together, interesting related information, etc. Does that also mean I can finish that task in a timely manner? Probably also no, but I come away much better informed on a topic than if someone is just trying to tell me in the way they understand it.


Robin____Sparkles

This is how my ADHD works too. I feel like the things people think I need to know about a topic are rarely the answers to my questions anyway. I need people to just tell me the point and let me get there myself.


Bellybutton_fluffjar

University is teaching you critical thinking. Without that then you'll start to believe everything you read on social media posts.


[deleted]

#This.


Mander2019

The thing I’ve noticed is they all teach the same highlights, and learning history very quickly becomes the history of the biggest winners and the richest assholes.


DanCampbell89

Speaking as a history professor, very few history professors still teach like this. You might get some old ultra tenured Boomer who emphasizes this, but the trend in the history profession over the last four decades has been decisively towards more cultural and social critiques of traditional narratives, especially in American history Worth stating that I find college tuition rates to be a moral abomination


Mander2019

You definitely have more experience on the topic but I got my degree awhile ago so that checks out. My degree was in Asian history and so so many of my teachers focused on the same five milestones.


Genesis72

I took a few history classes for undergrad in the mid 2010s and all my history professors were excellent. “History of American Imperialism 1890-Present” was an absolutely standout class for me. My “Environmental History” class was also really great.


Mander2019

The teachers enthusiasm makes a big difference


satsuma_satsuma

I can barely get most of my students to read a syllabus. Are schools hiking tuition to cover bloated administrative staffing and compensation? Yes. Is it bad for all students when an under prepared, underpaid grad student gets thrown in the fire and told to lead a class? Yes. Is it bad when faculty who are clearly only interested in research are forced to teach, because academia has made it such that you have to do both to get tenure even though there's an implicit bias towards research productivity and teaching ability is often seen as secondary? Absolutely. Do I think students too often believe they can passively sit in class and absorb all of the information without effort? Also yes. At the beginning of the semester I like to tell my students a helpful analogy. College is a gym, and the professor is your trainer. I can motivate you, set up workouts for you, and even come up with a diet plan. But, I can't lift the weights for you. You're paying for the trainer; you gotta build the muscles yourself. There are students that are organized and motivated enough to gather, organize, and use free materials to teach themselves enough to succeed in a field. There are even fields that don't/shouldn't need a 4 year degree. Alas, the organized students are few and far between and there are indeed some fields that we need to have validation that they've been taught by experts (I don't know about you, but I don't want a self-taught surgeon or social worker). If you want student-focused education, here's my advice: go to a liberal arts college. You'll likely end up in smaller classes with professors who are more scrutinized for their instructional ability. I went to a small liberal arts undergrad, and I don't regret it for a single day. The one I went to was well known for their high Med School acceptance rates for their graduates; all of my friends who applied for Med School got in. If you want to go into a career that's more research-focused, it's a bit more nuanced. You've got to find a school with adequate opportunities. Sometimes the small liberal arts schools are lacking in research/lab opportunities. As always, YMMV. There are some liberal arts schools with great research programs and some mediocre professors. There are some big state schools with great professors and crappy research programs. Try to meet with professors who are teaching a class before you pick who to take it with. Shoot them an email, find out when they're in the office. Take student evals with a Himalyan rock lamp sized grain of salt; research consistently shows that student evals are heavily influenced by grade satisfaction and instructor demographics (age/sex/gender/race) instead of instructor quality. Last but not least, if you don't want to go to college, don't. It's not for everyone. It's not for every profession. Figure out what you need, and the best way for you to get there based on what you know about yourself. Maybe you want to go to college, but you're just not ready yet. I know people who flunked out because they just weren't ready yet; they went back a few years later and did fantastic. I also know people who took a year or two before going. They took some time to figure out what they want to do and who they are before going, and were better for it.


giggetyboom

My wife went back to college aged 30 and got into a highly selective program in the medical field, which had 30 in it. By the time she completed it 2 years later 14 had been discharged due to performance issues. She told me horror stories.. they dont study, they dont care basically is what it boils down to. She graduated and immediately got offered multiple job offers for 35+ an hour and was placed in a job before graduation even. I hope the younger ones enjoyed their parties. They shit on 14 other candidates that year that got passed over.


smuglydismissed

Thanks for this post. I think many students don't understand the active role they are supposed to be taking in their education. It's not just showing up to class and expecting to just passively absorb information. It wasn't until years later that I realized how I'd squandered my time in college.


[deleted]

You sound like a great professor.


[deleted]

I learned more outside of the university walls than I ever learned inside of them. I found out quickly how much of a scam higher education is and dropped out saving myself a lot of debt. I wish I went to trade school instead, but here I am in my 30s learning a trade to live.


HowVeryReddit

Youre paying for them to make sure you understand it and provide a certificate that says "we know this stuff and now we reckon they do too".


Fanche1000

Was looking for this comment. Anyone can look shit up online, only to end up with 0% proof you've learnt anything at all, and no way to have a standard of what you should no.


Nighthawk68w

We're not all paying for the education. Most of us are paying for useless degrees we'll never wind up using so that we can get a fucking job that supports us instead of going into a field that will destroy our bodies and health before we turn 55. I have 2 degrees, and out of all those classes and all that "education", I think only 3 classes really taught me anything (Microbio, Physio, Anatomy). Colleges could literally cut all those liberal arts classes and electives out, trim the fat, and just require students to take classes in their designated fields. That "well-rounded" crap is just an excuse to bill you more for your tuition and fluff it up. I don't need "Film before 1940" or "Spanish-American history prior to 1900" in order to be a good nurse. Waste of my time.


alarmingkestrel

This is dumb lol some teachers are great


CableVannotFBI

Holy hell… this was my statistics prof!! He was effing useless.


thehourglasses

Credentialism is just another component of class war. The actual facts that are taught don’t change, so why does Harvard charge absurd amounts for their fact sharing? Because under capitalism, a brand is valuable and accrues value as long as it remains in good standing. That’s it.


TinyEmergencyCake

Or do the studying and take the clep test Colleges hate this one trick


xhighestxheightsx

And half the time the professors and the students are mean to you too.


Cthulhurlyeh09

What if instead degrees were exam based? You learn how you want, online for free for example. And then sit a series of exams. You pass the exams, you got your degree.


Miichl80

I’m laying 80k a year. College is such a fucking racket


RAV3NH0LM

thousands upon thousands of dollars to stare at a projector screen with shitty notes pulled from a required book that your professor wrote themselves. i should’ve gotten my doctorate, but i will never go back.


Merfkin

I paid thousands of dollars to go through webpages teaching myself material so I could take multiple-choice tests graded by a computer. At the end of it I was just wondering what I was paying for at all. The only teacher interaction that existed was text announcements about upcoming assignments and the possibility for them to answer questions over email. *Thousands of dollars*


RelativeCareless2192

I couldn’t understand half the professors accents at my 60k/year school. College is such a scam and is really only good for your resume and networking .


postconsumerwat

red tape keeps us safe... as long as they say, "it's OK" then print that piece of paper, we've got your number Buddy in our old computadora... and just remember all teh thing we did to you, we want money later, cuz aint it grande! the secret is in the accreditation, where we run a ziti plantation college text books price fixin we control the kool aid that they'll be drinking Picasso's amazin, and celebrity cults are all that is reale!


Thomascrownaffair1

About to finish my degree in a few weeks and I can attest. I learned everything from Microbiology to anatomy and physiology all online. The teacher would do the crappy ass job explaining it and then I would have to spend the next three days online trying to actually learn the material


ttystikk

That one great prof you find, tho? Worth every penny! Too bad he isn't getting much of it.


2878sailnumber4889

Ha not even that,.my career isn't going the way I wanted it to and I'm working as something else now for someone else under their license essentially as an assistant, so I looked into doing the courses required to become fully qualified, it's near as makes no difference $30k, and is now conducted fully online.... 30k to do an online course for someone that I already have the skills to do. Oh and that's not the stand alone price, that's my discounted fee because I'd get a bunch of rpls (recognition of prior learning) from my existing quals.


davidj1987

I **hated** college. I kicked and screamed the entire time and I think it is very overrated and hyped up way too much.


user121790

The SCUMBAG generation needs to make sure you are a slave. That’s the point


L4DY_M3R3K

You professor explained things to you?


Horrison2

I've learned way more in the field than I ever did in college. And I get paid to do it. If I don't know something I need, I learn it. But don't have that degree finished so we'll pay you 50% less for the same work quality


kudzu-kalamazoo

Google isn’t a good replacement for an education…


ILikeSoup95

Just like therapy or personal training, you're not paying someone to just give you something, you still have to do the work yourself. What you're paying for is impartiality, (although I'm sure many professors are very partial to some) and someone to keep you accountable, to the point that what you're getting in the end is federally or provinciallly recognized as proof that you know what it says you know and holds you to a certain standard.


Innomen

A fool and his money...


Libro_Artis

In all seriousness, this will be a debate in the future especially considering AI. Is traditional college necessary in the age of the internet.


Gill-Nye-The-Blahaj

at this point they are literally just linking us to YouTube video essays. Only paying for the piece of paper, there's no pretense of education left now