I think some parents may get obsessive over their children getting good grades and being in the top schools in the country so they can get into the best college and get high paying jobs. Education is very important to my parents and getting good grades did matter. When I was in middle school and high school, if we got bad grades then some privileges would be taken away like no watching t.v. or in my brothers case, no video games. I think education is very important and parents should show their children how important it is but it shouldn't be everything. Like even people who didn't go to college are well rounded people and are able to succeed.
I don't drink but I'm pretty sure a large percentage of students at SF State do drink because I hear them talking about it in my classes. I thought it was really interesting how some schools don't have class on Fridays because Thursdays have become the new Fridays and students are out drinking. Even though some people can keep their grades up and have that binge drinking life, I don't think I would be able to. I mean it's hard enough now with school and work, I don't think I'd be able to handle that drinking life.
Blum describes some reasons why students cheat and they are because it makes things easier, it helps students attain the grade they desire, class work is not their primary priority, they have many obligations and goals to meet, and they are surrounded by students who scorn the nerd mentality. Sometimes students feel pressured to get good grades and succeed in college by their family and friends and they have so many responsibilities that they feel the only way to do so is by cheating.
I agree that if a student takes a class that they are interested in then they will be more engaged and actually take time to read the material and learn it. But if a student takes a class just for credit then they'll procrastinate and just memorize the material for the tests. I've experienced this myself like in high school I took a child development class and I really enjoyed it and took time to learn the material. I had fun doing the assignments and they didn't feel dreadful to me. Once I got to college, because some classes were cut from the original class schedule I had to just take whatever I could so I enrolled in a worlds religions class and it was completely different than how I had imagined it. It had a different approach to what I had expected. I felt the classes go by so slow and it was so boring to me. When it was time for the midterm it took me really long to come up with the minimum amount of pages required and I didn't feel like I learned anything or knew the material at all. Now I see that it's really important to get into classes that you know or think you'll like so it wont be a total waste of time and money.
My parents had the same attitude! :)
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point about student motivations -- it's easier to do the work and really learn if you're interested and engaged in the material. So do you think students may be more likely to cheat in required/gen ed courses, since they HAVE to take those, and aren't necessarily interested in the material?
My parents always stress the importance of education too!
ReplyDeleteWoohoo~ for 4 day weekends then! too bad that doesn't apply to me..
Sadly, we can't always get what we want. and that goes for classes like you said- we just gotta make the most of it even though it's not our top picks(;