I think the appropriateness of this criticism is highly dependent on subject. You can fit Maxwell’s equations on a sticky note, but most electrical engineering work will be learning how to apply those laws in a practical way. On the other hand, if you’re in an English Literature course and didn’t read the literature your class will be discussing, that’s on you.
If you don’t do the reading and come to class expecting everything to be laid out for you without any effort on your part, why even pay for a college education?
edit: It’s also funny how you skipped over the “completely unprepared” part and went straight to the part about teachers.
You are straw-manning very hard right now. No one is saying teachers shouldn’t explain anything. I’m saying teachers shouldn’t have to explain everything just because you didn’t want to do any homework.
Again, skipping over the “completely unprepared” part of the meme because that bit doesn’t suit your argument.
The best teachers you have ever had… rarely had to assign homework? I’m not sure what discipline you’re in, but in my field (don’t want to doxx myself) that doesn’t even make sense.
Yeah… I’m not sure I understand that comment without an example. Are you saying your field is something that takes a lifetime to master and you have to spend every waking hour working on it?
And yes the classes that I learned the most in were the ones where we would read the textbook together and do exercises during class. The worst were the ones that would just assign the chapter for you to read at home without them there as a resource if you had any questions.
I work in the humanities. It requires discussion-based classes. Which are difficult to have if no one does the reading.
Are you saying your field is something that takes a lifetime to master and you have to spend every waking hour working on it?
I’m really trying to be charitable and assume you’re arguing in good faith but when you say things like this, it’s difficult.
And yes the classes that I learned the most in were the ones where we would read the textbook together and do exercises during class. The worst were the ones that would just assign the chapter for you to read at home without them there as a resource if you had any questions.
Okay, I agree with part of this. Good teachers will explain the material, bad teacher expect the students to do all the work. Now read the meme again. What you said is not the scenario I’m trying to describe.
I did my homework… just when it came to lazy teachers that expected you to teach yourself by assigning chapters to read from textbooks that aren’t known to be easy reads, the quality was usually lacking. It would be better if I could read the textbook with someone who knows the subject matter… ah yes I’ve got it, a TEACHER.
This is so true. By college, far more learning and work takes place independently. A professor will teach 3-4 hours per week. Definitely not enough to “explain everything”.
What’s really BS is the professors who don’t teach jack shit during class and just expect students to do all the reading on their own time, then fill the actual class time with busy work. That was wayyy too common when I was in college.
The whole point of college is supposed to be to have highly qualified individuals giving you individualized instruction on advanced topics. That’s why it costs literally tens of thousands of dollars. Yet more and more the professors are losers who couldn’t hack it in their fields and the “lessons” are just there to fill time while you’re expected to do most of the actual learning on your own.
I’d say about 10% of my industry knowledge when I graduated came from my classes, the other 90% was independent study or picking stuff up “on the job” at internships and jobs I worked outside of class. Basically I burned countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars just to get the piece of paper at the end. And talking to colleagues over the years, that’s not at all an uncommon experience
I’m an audible learner, I can read something 4 times and still not understand how it works. I paid for college to listen to my professors and lecturers, and I retained knowledge by attending all available sessions.
I retained knowledge by attending all available sessions.
Sounds like you are putting effort into your education. I’m not talking about you. The vast majority of students are not incapable of doing the reading if they actually care to try.
As a teacher, it’s very obvious when no one even looked at the reading. And it’s baffling to me that people just want to pass the class and not get anything out of it.
That’s a false dichotomy. It is not the difference between the teacher doing everything and the teacher doing literally nothing (“if nothing is laid out for me”). The expectation is that, in *your * education, the teacher should do their job to teach and you do your due diligence as a student to learn.
The latter point is what the post is about. Students who put in no effort at all. If that doesn’t apply to you, then you shouldn’t feel annoyed.
If a teacher can’t inspire learning than they might be shit teachers. If the class is just read this boring book and regurgitate it back to me do you expect students to care?
I always viewed it as a give and take. You’re expected to do the reading and understand the basics. The professor is there to give context and help you work out the harder stuff that doesn’t leap off the page. If neither does their job, no learning gets done.
Some explaining, but mostly the job is teach students how to think critically, seek resources, manage time at short medium and long terms, express yourself orally and written, build endurance for boring things, and most importantly to read.
I can explain riding a bike all day. But that’s not how someone learns to ride.
But the analogy is more that a student shows up to bike riding class, and hasn’t learned to ride the bike beforehand, expecting the teacher to explain how it’s done
If we expected students to learn the material before coming to class to listen to the teacher explain said material, then why do they even need to go to class?
Reflecting on the material afterwards is on the student of course
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