I have been in the college system for a long time. I have 21 years of teaching in the college system and 6 years of college prior to that. So, I would like to think that I have some experiences in the system of what college is about.
And that is the question I am asking today – what is college all about? What is the purpose of it all? I know that when I was in college I had fun. But I also know I was there to learn. I wanted a degree that would take me toward my goal of being a community college teacher. I had a plan and that meant I had to focus on that goal, and I wanted to do the best I could in those classes, but I also wanted to enjoy my time in college. I had the ability to learn about life without parents being right there, and that wasn’t always a good thing. I learned about what it meant to be a Christ-follower on my own rather than just following what my parents were doing (I had started learning that before college, but it grew in college). I learned about dealing with good and bad roommates (Michael B rocked! The stinky guy whose name I can’t remember was awful). But I was primarily there to get my physics degree. That was the plan.
But I don’t get that from so many of my students over the years anymore. They talk about college being a place to just have fun. They only want to meet the right people and then do whatever they want. I know that was true when I was in college too for many students, but from the teacher point of view things just seem so different. I want my students to succeed and I don’t think many of them want to. They want to skate by. They want to “get a grade they want” and not actually earn the grade.
So what is the purpose of being in my class if they just expect to get a certain grade. If I was just handing out grades based on desires I wouldn’t be teaching. I would be selling a product. I have heard some people, including fellow faculty, say that we are selling a product. I hate that. I am not selling a product I am providing a service. And that service requires work on both sides. I work hard to provide a service and I expect my students to do their work to learn the material and gain that knowledge. But many don’t. They just expect something. I am not even sure what that is sometimes. I have had students that take the same class 2 times because they don’t care enough the first time to do the work, and then expect to get a passing grade, and then the second time they take the class… well they sometimes do just enough to pass, or they do fine in the class, or they still don’t do enough to pass. I have never had a student retake my class and do stellar.
So again what is the point? Do we really want those students to become our future doctors or engineers?
I realize I am getting old and maybe I sound like an old man that is complaining about “those young kids” but I don’t remember being that way in college. I wanted to do well. I didn’t always do well, but I always tried my hardest. I had a purpose in college.
Maybe that is it. Maybe the students I am talking about don’t have a true purpose. Maybe they have concepts and ideas of what they want to do, but don’t have the purpose to make it a focus in their life. I know that for some college is a place to explore and therefore they are purposeless, but even the ones that say they have a goal in mind don’t always seem to have that purpose as a focus.
Sorry this has turned into a ramble. I guess my mind has decided to wander and is maybe lacking a purpose.