Comments on: College vs. “the real world.” Who pushes this myth, and why?

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 07:06:54 +0000

College can be rewarding. It can be difficult. But the real thing we need is “self-education.” In fact, on some level, all education is self-education. So in a lot of cases, the people getting 3.0 GPAs or better are motivated enough to take it upon themselves to get good grades. However, I would rather be a student who gets a 2.0 on a hard class like economics or public speaking than a lazy student who cheats or takes “The Philosophy of the Simpsons” in order to get an “A”. So, the point is, maybe students should take “real world classes” in college. They might be better off.

By: Students in the real world « Memoirs of a SLACer

Students in the real world « Memoirs of a SLACer — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 01:30:04 +0000

[...] Via: Historiann [...]

By: Forget the SATs; the Chronicle of Higher Ed Talks College Alcoholism | Course Hero

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:09:20 +0000

[...] responds to fear of failure? Prompted by an excellent post over at Historiann, which addresses the false dichotomy between the “real world” and the “college world”, I would like to point out that there are any number of ways in which that dichotomy allows many [...]

By: Spanish Prof

Spanish Prof — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:15:56 +0000

I am not saying that it doesn’t happen at all places, it does. I teach at a Catholic University and did my PhD at Big Party School. I saw instances of unnaceptable drinking I’m both cases. What I am saying is that not all the student body in either place engages in that kind of behavior. Not even the majority of them, percentage wise. Dame Eleanor Hull has a good post on TR’s.
To sum up: do I think some students have a problem with alcohol? Yes. Do I think it is not dealt adequately by authorities? Yes. Do I think most students have an alcohol problem? No. The big stories always get the headlines, but I don’t think, percentage-wise, the majority of college students are alcoholics as defined by TR. And I think the generalization is dangerous. And maybe it doesn’t happen at Zenith, but what I see in my Catholic University is less destructive student behavior: because of the crisis, more and more students work at least 20 hours a week if not more. It doesn’t leave them much time for anything else.

By: Historiann

Historiann — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:21:15 +0000

Spanish Prof: Of course you’re right that we all generalize from our own experience, but that doesn’t mean that each college or uni in the U.S. is a special snowflake, and that therefore we can’t make guesses about the way that colleges and unis here enable alcoholism among both college students and the adults nominally “in charge.”

I’ve taught at 1) a private women’s college, 2) two medium-sized private, Catholic universities, and 3) a large state university in my career, all in the U.S. At all but the private women’s college, drinking was a major part of student life, and the students at one of the Catholic unis explicitly told me that they believed that their criminal behavior shouldn’t be dealt with the same way as when non-college students engaged in vandalism, arson, rape, and the like, because they imagined that they were on their way to lives of middle-class respectability in spite of their penchant for arson, vandalism, property destruction, and the like.

I think that TR’s students at Zenith have access to more money, and that aggravates the extent to which one can indulge in alcoholic behavior (more cash for booze, more cash for paying fines, more cash from mumsy and daddy to make bail, etc.) But I think it’s on a spectrum with what’s going on on most other campuses (women’s colleges and evangelical protestant colleges excepted, usually.)

By: Spanish Prof

Spanish Prof — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 03:27:55 +0000

I think TR is taking her experience at Zenith and generalizing. I don’t think most college students are that way. I did my PhD at a school that consistently rambled among the top ten party schools, and even there the experience was quite different than what she describes.

By: Z

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:43:32 +0000

Yes, it’s anti-intellectualism.

I’m amazed at the not facing real world consequences of alcoholism, though: my students get DUIs, call from jail to apologize for missing class, are sentenced to drug court; some are on parole or have done time for vehicular homicide / DUI, how do yours avoid these things?

To not cook, etc., you have to be able to afford to live in a dorm. To not do child care, you have to have parents who are doing it for you. To not clean, you need a maid or else you live in filth, and if you do not shop, where do you eat…? Curious minds want to know.

By: Northern Barbarian

Northern Barbarian — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:28:11 +0000

I do teach at one of those “fancy-pants” SLACs, and even here I would say the “real world” is much realer than the propaganda. Yes, our students do not have to shop, cook, clean their domiciles, or care for children while studying(for the most part). The worst non-real aspect is probably, as TR says in her great essay on campus alcoholism, that they don’t face serious consequences for chronic binge-drinking. However, most of our students do work because they have to, do deal with the same emotional/psychological/family crises as others, and are under enormous pressure to multi-task and be good at everything or their entire lives will be “ruined” (not replicating the lives of their parents, which they probably won’t be able to do anyway).

Another aspect of the “not the real world” slur is good ol’ American anti-intellectualism: intellectual labor simply can’t be real work. It’s a myth now that “real” Americans build things with their hands, but a myth that some conservatives cling to grimly.

By: Enemy Propaganda | Mictlantecuhtli

Enemy Propaganda | Mictlantecuhtli — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:33:35 +0000

[...] a good research degree and by having published as you have. You must atone for it now. Realize that the party is over and the time for teaching up a storm and serving others’ research agendas has come. Your job [...]

By: Comrade PhysioProf

Comrade PhysioProf — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 17:32:05 +0000

On September 13, the fraternity house of Pi Kappa Alpha at the University of Maine, where I teach, was condemned and 22 students were tossed out.

Serves those fucken Pikas right!