The Pissed Off Professor

Read Part 1 | Read Part 2 | Read Part 3 | Read Part 4

#1: Pay Students to Go to School

I know what you’re thinking: someone who isn’t really me took over this blog for the day, right?

While it might seem a bit odd given much of what I say about effort and personal responsibility and college being a privilege, I do think we ought to pay students to be students.

Consider my other wishes first:

• #5: Quiz Students on the Course Syllabus—Those Who Pass Stay, Those Who Don’t Leave.
• #4: Raise the Criteria for Admission
• #3: Raise Tuition Fees
• #2: Interview the Students

Now, after all of the above, imagine the level of academic commitment and potential everyone who remained would have. Doesn’t it make sense to allow these people to focus on school and not worry about basic living expenses?

I’m not suggesting the school (or the government) cut these students checks, but I do believe each of the students who made it through my wish-list of qualifications ought to be provided a year-round dorm in which to live that included basic needs and a monthly stipend of $1,000.00.

Given the low success rate of most college students, I think upping the ante to be a student and paying those who cut it would solve the problem. It would also free the system of many of its ills and result in a greater degree of student attentiveness at all educational levels. (College would become the semi-professional sport of education.)

The conditions would be simple: the student gets four years to earn her degree, and she gets her living quarters and stipend provided she maintains a B average in her courses. If at any time during the period the student falls below a B average, she will have one semester to get her focus back. If she doesn’t get her grades up, she is no longer eligible for the program, but she will be allowed one more semester to change her academic ways. After that, if her grades don’t improve, she is no longer eligible to attend school.

Don’t talk to me about his being harsh. If a student is intelligent enough to attend college and has no outside commitments, there is virtually no reason she cannot maintain a B average. Remember, an A in one course and a C in another means a B average.

We have got to stop treating college as a joke, and right now, that’s the way it’s regarded. If you doubt me, ask yourself why so few students succeed in their pursuit of a college degree.

I admit college is hard—and it should be. One of the things I am quick to point out to my students who complain about how hard it is and the fact that they don’t know how to do an assigned task is that if was easy and they did know how to do the thing they were being taught, the whole exercise would be a waste of time and effort.

The point of college is to learn how to do things one does not know how to do, or at the very least, to push oneself to do some things even better.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 7th, 2007 at 8:11 am and is filed under College, Education, Students, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.