Education, or just getting by?

Today, my Mechanics teacher had trouble getting the projector to turn on.  I always find it entertaining watching someone very intelligent, but very behind the times, attempting to wrestle technology into submission.  He essentially kept trying to press the same button over again, and I guess that must have worked eventually because after about ten minutes, we finally began class.

So you may be wondering what my title has to do with any of this.  You see, as all of this transpired, more and more students in the class decided that this ten minute wait was too long and decided to leave.  By the time he finally figured out how to use the projector, I’d say half the class was already gone.  I mean, really, is 10 minutes out of a 50 minute lecture really enough time to merit skipping the class altogether?

This being said, my overarching point to this post is this: Students aren’t interested in learning anymore.  Ok, ok, this is a generalization to be sure, but it’s something I’ve noticed in a lot of students, especially now that I’m in college.  There are just too many people here with the mindset that if they get a good grade on this test, they’ll do well in the class, if they do well in the class, they’ll get a good gpa, if they get a good GPA, they’ll graduate and go on to earn lots of money.  Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but it just doesn’t work that way.  Yes, a good GPA is important.  But what good is it to cram the night before an exam if you’re just going to forget the material as soon as you take it.  I’ve heard too many students say to a professor, “I learned that last quarter, I don’t remember it.  Could you teach it again?”  Imagine an engineer, as I one day hope to be, walking into their bosses office and saying, “hey, I don’t remember how to do the math for this project, could you teach it to me?”  That’s not going to get you money, that’s going to get you fired.  With the job market and the economy the way they are, employers are looking for people who aren’t going to need to have their hands held throughout the job, they’re looking for people with the skills that THEY SHOULD ALREADY KNOW!

Now, before people start calling me hypocritical, trust me when I say that I know I can often be one of the worst offenders of this problem.  My hope is that this is a wake up call to me as well as others that we go to school to get an education, not just to get by (speaking of which, I should probably get back to work now).

Comment if you agree or think I’m crazy