<p>This is not a thread that is intended to be critical of Tufts. I would really like opinions about what my son observed on a recent visit. He was accepted to Tufts and got a pretty generous fin. aid package, so it was high on his list. He went to visit last week and sat in on a range of classes.</p>
<p>This is what concerned him. Students who were playing video games and on facebook on their laptops. Students who did not seem very engaged in class. Students who asked basis questions regarding the information presented, similar to what he experienced in high school honors or AP classes, but not anything more scholarly or inquisitive. </p>
<p>Maybe he sat in on the "wrong" classes, but I'm wondering how typical this is. Although I would expect this at less demanding schools, it is disheartening that this is occurring at a presumably highly respected school, and at one where half of the students/parents are paying full freight. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I suspect it was a function of the classes he attended.
I think that you might find some students messing around with Facebook, etc. in a non-seminar class at just about any school.
It’s certainly a bad idea, but I consider it more as a poor reflection on those students than on the school.</p>
<p>I agree with WCASParent–you will see this at any college, and it is a reflection of the students, and maybe the professor, but not necessarily the school as a whole. We even have students doing that in our Hopkins Medical School lectures…</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that it is a reflection on the students, not the school. Wow, medman, that’s pretty disturbing about med school students! I can understand the appeal of Facebook and e-mail, but videogames during class? But I guess the concern is if Tufts attracts the kind of students that have an attitude like this, then it would be disappointing. I would expect a more casual attitude at a community or state school, and certainly in a class that is boring. But, I guess I had hoped for more from the students at this school. I am certainly not saying that all of the students are like this at all. It was just that my son observed this behavior in a cross-sampling of various courses in different subjects during his visit, and it was a disappointment for him.</p>
<p>maggiedog, my freshman D1 recently talked to a visiting prospie and parents about just this subject. She asked what classes the prospie sat in on. Apparently, they were pretty basic ones. D1 asked about the prospie’s high school background, which was similar to hers (large number of APs at a highly rigorous and demanding high school). She told the prospie and parents that she’s found challenging coursework with engaged students. Depends on the major, what classes the student chooses, and if the student is willing to pump up their game.</p>
<p>D1 said to me that the prospie shouldn’t have been directed to those particular classes, and should’ve been told to sit in on more challenging ones. </p>
<p>Sorry that aspect of the visit didn’t go well!</p>
<p>The level of class probably is part of it, I suspect. He did get to sit in on a higher level class that was more of a seminar, so the students were more attentive.</p>
<p>I could only imagine how bad this would be at larger state and private schools where T.A.'s teach classes with 200-300 students. Tufts, and schools like it, have excellent teacher to student ratios so this should be that prevalent compared to the larger schools…</p>
<p>This generation is addicted to the internet, can’t stand being un-connected, and operates under the delusion that they can multi-task (i.e., text, FB check and pay attention to the professor all at once). It’s discouraging, but not unique to Tufts, so I would in no way let it dissuade you from Tufts, which is a fabulous school and is full of extremely bright kids who, notwithstanding the distraction, do absolutely spectacular things. As a friend of mine, reflecting on how he didn’t take full advantage of the marvelous education he was given, once remarked “Education (like youth) is wasted on the young.” It’s a refection of the current culture as well as the age, when the kids are presented with such a cornucopia of opportunities, including social ones (which is primarily what they’re doing with their phones and computers) that they have trouble tuning any of it out.</p>
<p>My son and I sat in on a class at Yale a couple of months ago. I was horrified that there were kids on facebook and shopping. But I know that even back in the 80s before there was handheld technology, my friends and I would doodle, and get distracted in class at times. Young people today think nothing of texting while you are trying to have a conversation with them, but I still find it a bit rude. I expected the students at Yale to be the best of the best: the elite. But you know what, they were a bunch of 19 year olds who were a lttle tired and easily distracted. The difference between them and my son is that they got into Yale :)</p>
<p>That’s also pretty disturbing about Yale. I guess it’s pretty widespread. I know that I could have filled volumes of books with the amount of doodling I did when I was in college. But…I went to a state school that didn’t cost a lot, had to take a lot of courses I didn’t want to take, and was bored a lot. I suppose I expected more (and my son also expected more) from such a high level college.</p>
<p>I did not intend for one second to suggest that you would not find “more” at a high level college— because you will—as I said, the Tufts kids are extremely bright and are accomplishing amazing things. But, at this age and especially since technology allows for constant socializing, they sometimes just can’t resist that lure, as idle and wasteful as that may seem to their parents. Sometimes they just find each other more fascinating than any given class, and that’s not so bad either. A LOT of the benefit from attending a high level college is what you learn from your peers, and not just as a pure intellectual matter.</p>
<p>Check out the documentary “Digital Nation” on PBS. This is a BIG problem for education in general. Towards the start, they interview students and professors at MIT about this problem! Yes, MIT professors are complaining about students texting, facebooking etc. during class…</p>