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My wife and I have driven by the local community college only a mile from my home a million times over the years but never stopped to look around. We like to go hiking around the neighborhood but for some reason we never stopped and looked around campus. Until last evening!
Whe were true busy buddies and walked into many of the class room buildings and peeked into many of the classroom full of students. In the front of the room was the Instructor/Professor doing a lecture. Sitting in the seats were some of the most bored looking people I had ever seen. This was not just one class but many classes. You could just tell that the students were bored silly but must have felt that they had to put up with it to get that piece of paper.
I don't remember being that bored when I was in college? Were you?
I only took a few classes at a community college in the summer, but in most of those classes, yes, I was that bored. Nothing I ever took at a CC was anything I wanted to take, just some lower level requirements that I could transfer to my university. It was easier and less expensive than taking them at my university. That said, I felt the same way taking the rest of those classes at my university too. I loved my core courses that pertained to my major. They held my interest because I wanted to be there, but stuff like English and biology, that all freshmen were required to take, those were pure torture.
You may need to take a larger sample in order to generalize to all colleges. Community colleges are taught at a much lower level intellectually and academically because there are no admissions standards. Of course the students look bored, you need to understand the population of students who end up at community colleges. You have a mix of students who had no initiative and made no effort in high school and students who were smart enough to get into a 4-year college/university but chose to attend community college because of the cost. Either way you see people who are bored out of their mind or just don't care.
You might try observing a highly ranked 4-year college/university and see if the students are more engaged. Admissions standards have a lot to do with shaping the student body. There are many variables involved - class size, subject matter and college/university prestige would all shape what you'd see in a classroom.
Not all colleges are the same. We all hope that colleges engage their students in cutting edge research and analysis beyond the classroom. But the reality is that many colleges are just an extension of high school (textbook material). This applies to both, 2 year and 4 year institutions.
OP, are you hypothesizing or concluding by the use of inductive methods?
While some of the teachers may be less than inspiring, I suspect many students don't understand that not everything is going to be as exciting as the movies or television and knowledge for the sake of learning is important. I suspect most of them if given a chance to get the degree or diploma by not even showing up they would.
I understand lecture is not all that interesting but every class needs some lecture to present complex information. You can't do role playing, group problem solving or case studies until the students are presented enough information to understand the topic.
If they are only interested in their major classes then they should have gone to a certificate or trade school that did not require andy general education or liberal arts.
Last edited by chit chatter; 09-26-2012 at 06:46 AM..
I am a little surprised that professors at community colleges would be LECTURING instead of using teaching methods that would be more likely to get students involved and engaged. BUT I also wish that students would realize that not all classes are going to be ENTERTAINING. Sometimes the material is just not that interesting, but it's important so you have to get through it anyway. (EG I teach Research Methods, which I find fascinating but which I also know is NOT fascinating to most students! I have developed a lot of exercises that we do together in class, so at least students are DOING something instead of just listening to me drone on.)
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