Student Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of the University

Lower standards and grade inflation make campuses safe for students who have little hunger for knowledge, little love of learning, and almost no appetite for hard work. Although students have many reasons for going to college, a very large number–71.3 percent of the entering class of 1995–do so not to enrich their minds but their pocketbooks. “The only reason most of us are going to school is society says, ‘this is your meal ticket'” (Sacks 139). —Paul Trout —Student Anti-Intellectualism and the Dumbing Down of the University (The Montana Professor)

Found via Arnzen’s PEDABLOGUE.

I teach a wide range of students, including some that fit the description above. In my first year of full-time teaching, I made a passing reference to “when you used to do homework in high school,” and the class burst out into laughter. I had to ask them why, and at least half of them said that they never did any homework in high school at all.

If you happen to be one of my students, and you’re offended by what Trout wrote, then chances are you aren’t one of the students he’s complaining about. Besides, I doubt an anti-intellectual student would bother reading my weblog — after all, it won’t be on the test.