Ideally, I agree with your proposal, but I’m skeptic of its effectiveness. In the states, “making more money” is the dominant factor for most American students, with specific reference to the college debt that many of these students face after leaving the academic setting.

Thank you Professor. When I wrote my post Monday, I wasn’t careful in how I worded my opinion. But I found this link I wanted to share with Katie, its from the Census Bureau. Please review Table 3, it indicates that in America, the majority of the population is female. Furthermore, and possibly more intriguing is the demographic projection for 2048. Given the current rate of change in our nation’s population, the majority and minority divide may no longer exist. I find this encouraging and enforcing the significance that we MUST except that our lives will continuously become more diverse. I recall another post that said the philosophy of American education seems to discourage foreign students speaking their native language in academic affairs. Given these projections, we must join the global community (e.g., Europe) in encouraging through lower education the use of 2nd non-native languages. Future generations of student should be prepared to participate in sharing ideas on a global scale without limitation set by demographic differences.

https://www.census.gov/population/projections/data/national/2014/summarytables.html

Thank you Ashish, I’m happy at least for motivating a discussion topic, but please read my comment below… I believe my poor linguistics have once again resulted in a potentially misjudged post (I’ve had a few on Facebook regarding discussions of religion in Astronomy).

A comment to most who responded to me. I won’t say that I’ve not received oppression period, I certainly have. Perhaps there were situations where I was racially criticized, but personally, I could care less. I had a professor my first year who had it out for me for being ADHD in engineer where being ADHD is rare (this was pointed out by my doctor), and while I can’t prove this was completely why he said what he did, the comment he made to me when I visited him during his office hours was bluntly that “if you can’t pay attention then you’re not cut out for engineering…. why did you even feel you should be in this department?”. Yes, it was harsh, and yes I was hurt, but I turned around and dropped his course, retook it with someone else and made the highest grade in the class, and now 5 years later I’m a PhD student in engineering. However, for you to point a finger and assume incorrectly that because I’m white or straight, that this is why I don’t feel oppressed. I’m concerned that that your comment potentially stems from internal anger and deep rooted problems with majorities. I’m sorry if things have happened to you that resut in this, but I will assure you that as far as I am concerned, I could careless if someone is glowing neon-green, if you’re different awesome, but again I don’t care, it doesn’t affect my succeeding in life. AND, as a GRA in the group I work for, a group that consists of no other white, straight students, I don’t feel out of place. We are all people, and until people can get over these petty differences it’ll be a wonder just how far technological progress will ever continue.

Furthermore, I recall I spent a semester in England last year, and while they are white and speak “English”, they quite despise Americans. Too, I also worked in a research center, where the only two white students in the entire group of 20 students were Italian and Portuguese. I received a large amount of criticism for being American, and I was blamed for things American politicians have done. How did I respond, I thought it was funny and I would entered conversations with a crack about my culture. Additionally, I do know women who are homosexual that are in engineering, and I’m quite fond of them and I consider them friends. HOWEVER, in engineering (a science) if people are having discussions about sexuality preferences, gender, skin color, or anything else, then something is seriously wrong, this is no longer science. It relatable to asking a cosmologist for evidence that God exists… it just shouldn’t be asked. Neil Tyson has a few Youtube videos regarding this. From what I recall, the civil engineering department faculty is probably half majority and half minority, thus prejudice would seem out of place. If people in engineering were so caught in discrimination, then nothing in the civil engineering department would ever get done.

Thank you. I enjoyed your blog. You've nailed the problem. It was standardized testing that always pushed me aways from caring about the courses that were taught in this way. The only courses I remember, were the courses where the professors were obviously very engaged with the students. I spent a semester in England last fall. While I was over there, I was working on a university campus with a research group. This group consisted of professors, PhD researchers and PhD students. The system of education in the UK was simple, when a person works in education they have to choose 1 of 2 options. Either they teach or they manage research, NOT both. This ensures that students are not being taught by half attentive professors that deliver mindless lectures that just spit out line after line of random facts with no explanation of their importance. More time should be devoted to lectures, after all this is what the students are paying for.

This is a complex issue which will take some trial and error to resolve. The loss of motivation resulting in cheating or mindless questions has some fault resulting from a failure of ensuring material has been properly taught. While I never cheated on exams, in some courses I would ask “What is going to be on the test?”. This stems from deep rooted fear of not being able to remember blindly the information I was required to know. For the professors, the issue of teaching and monitoring outside research is tough, and unfortunately this can result in mindless force fed facts without content to deliver them. BUT, a few professors I had the pleasure of knowing, would put a profound amount of time into office hours and lectures, and it was in these courses I never asked those mindless questions, and ultimately it was these courses where I learned the most. Perhaps the problems has something to do with lack of time to devote to preparing lectures, resulting from more devotion to ensure large amounts of money are being brought into the school in the form of research.

Once again, you’ve hit nail on the head. Being that we’ve had similar classes, the tests we taken gauged nothing but how well we memorized random facts (that can easily be found in a manual or an internet source). Now, I don’t necessarily think these tests are necessarily inappropriate for all degrees (e.g., medicine), however, making these type of tests standard for all departments, doesn’t consider the potential damage. In engineering, these sort tests are nothing more than easy to grade. For me, these tests raise my stress levels and increase the potential for me to make mistakes that I otherwise would not make.

Mindless chatter and click-and-go articles seem to permeate a large majority of internet and television entertainment. I can’t agree more with this, and I believe its for this reason I’ve also been resistant to accept social media as a safe and reliable place to have intelligent dialogue. Even so, some part of me feels that to reach the young students entering into college, some conformity is necessary. These situations always make think of the quote from Star Trek, when the Borg say, “…, you will be assimilated, resistance if futile”. Even so, I believe if we are to conform to these new social methods of teaching, it shouldn’t be done using mindless trail and error in the classroom. Instead, research into the aspects of social media that incite positive feedback with younger populations should be tackled first. After identifying this, the construct of academic social networking can then be formed. The future is inevitably becoming more globalized with social media, and regardless of what form it may take in the far future as this process continues to evolve, some system that encourages younger students to participate in the educational community is necessary and to feel that they are capable of contributing intelligently (despite the negative teachings of most of modern television and social media).

You have a point that I agree with. During my time at Virginia Tech and at several universities prior to this, perhaps five of my professors devoted their time to ensure that students truly understood what they’re learning, while also allowing the students to voice their potentially valuable views of the subject matter without reacting defensively. Unfortunately, the other majority pretend that their views are undefiable, and being in a classroom teaching is a one way street. As an undergraduate, I was terrified of addressing my professors, in fear that if I offered a counter opinion that I would be penalized for the remainder of the semester.

However, as a graduate student, I’ve come to learn that this philosophy is gradually changing. Without challenging the previous generations, the new generations are doomed remain static and never changing.