<p>My attitude: if you truly don’t know what you want to do with your life, then maybe you shouldn’t be in college yet, maybe you should be out working and supporting yourself and seeing the real world first. I was 27 when I decided to return to college, it wasn’t until then that I’d developed an interest in math (which went along with my growing interest in physics which came directly from my growing love of Star Trek!) and I used to hate math. And it wasn’t I was actually in college again that I decided I loved physics enough to be an engineering physics major with a concentration in CS, rather than the other way around. When you <em>know</em> what you want to do, it makes you more motivated and driven to succeed than you otherwise would be, and your grades show it.</p>
<p>To keep this track off thread, here’s another thing colleges need to reform: the misleading of grad students about their prospects of getting a faculty job, all so you can have more grad students to use as indentured servants. “We need more Americans getting PhDs in science and engineering!” is code for “more slaves!” Those faculty jobs have all disappeared, the people who get them never move on. This ties into the larger issue of government funding of science, which I think ought to be drastically reduced.</p>
<p>Another thing colleges (at least tax-payer supported ones) need to stop doing is empire-building, constantly trying to catch up to Harvard and MIT in every way. “Oh, they have a Tanzanian studies department? Well by gum, we’ll have one too! Just to say we’re a world-class institution! Harvard has a recruitment office in Bombay? We’ll have one too, fully staffed!” Etc. If you don’t go to a school that does this type of thing, you may not get what I’m complaining about.</p>
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<li><p>I think a lot of the education is out-dated or taught in a way that is not in line with how we best learn. Frustrating that overall, I learn SO much more from reading books I buy off Amazon than I at school.</p></li>
<li><p>Even though I teach people how to get Straight A’s in less time and spent a lot of time learning to “beat the system,” I think grades are counterproductive. They make you chase the carrot instead of being genuinely motivated to learn (which you would be if the stuff you learned was truly applicable).</p></li>
<li><p>Small thing but I hate how my school charges so much for food and snacks. Love my school, but come on now. Its pretty ridiculous. When I study abroad, they actually subsidized the food! All schools rip you off on food like that or just mine?!</p></li>
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<p>tbh I really don’t mind the “few exams” set up. My entire calc course hinges on two midterms and one final. This gives me a lot of freedom for homework and the prof is very clear about his expectations.</p>
<p>What I do not like, though, is professors trying to “trick” you by first lulling you into thinking the assessments are going to be doable, and then whacking you over the head with something you’ve barely seen before that requires you know the concept so well that it’s like you’ve been doing it for years.</p>
<p>I hate curves. We shouldn’t be assessed based on how others do. If we understand the material well, we should get an A, so it makes sense that more rigorous and competitive schools should give higher grades. Or else it’s not even worth going to a good school because even though you’re good, you’re not the best of the best and it’s just better off going to a mediocre school.</p>
<p>As a corollary, I hate grades. That’s not why I learn. I didn’t come to school so you can give me a grade to help the “economic system” determine whom to hire. Perhaps grades are relevant for graduate school but my education should be your one and only concern. Written evaluations > grades in all but STEM classes.</p>
<p>Haha. I would that Reed really doesn’t have grades, but I heard Reed has one of the toughest grading systems in the country because they don’t inflate. You just don’t know about it unless you ask;)</p>
<p>Curves only make sense in classes which are purposefully difficult, that is they are putting the students through really difficult tests that nobody is supposed to get 90% on. Those difficult exams are built with the idea of curving in mind. They are free to make the test super-difficult, because the results will be curved.</p>
<p>But it makes a lot less sense for tests where one could reasonably get a 95-100% on with enough studying and so forth.</p>
<p>The only problem with that is that my professors are teaching a class of 500+. They don’t have time to address questions about graduate school because there are so many people at office hours. And when I do get a chance to talk to them, its usually only 5 minutes about a test or assignment. It sucks going to a big school.</p>