(Are MTSU students more studious than Harvard's?)
Many students don't do the reading and don't speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change a campus culture they say hurts achievement and stifles speech.
Harvard University is one of the most difficult schools to gain admission to, with the school turning away some 97 percent of applicants every year.
But once they get in, many of its students skip class and fail to do the reading, according to the Classroom Social Compact Committee, a group of seven faculty members that produced a report on Harvard's classroom culture that has been fueling debate since it was released in January.
When they do show up for class, they are focused on their devices, and are reluctant to speak out. Sometimes it is because they are afraid of sharing ideas that others will disagree with. But often, they have not read enough of the homework to make a meaningful contribution, the report continued.
Rampant grade inflation allows them to coast through anyway, it concluded.
That means many students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=em-share
Many students don't do the reading and don't speak up in class, according to a report. Now, professors are trying to change a campus culture they say hurts achievement and stifles speech.
Harvard University is one of the most difficult schools to gain admission to, with the school turning away some 97 percent of applicants every year.
But once they get in, many of its students skip class and fail to do the reading, according to the Classroom Social Compact Committee, a group of seven faculty members that produced a report on Harvard's classroom culture that has been fueling debate since it was released in January.
When they do show up for class, they are focused on their devices, and are reluctant to speak out. Sometimes it is because they are afraid of sharing ideas that others will disagree with. But often, they have not read enough of the homework to make a meaningful contribution, the report continued.
Rampant grade inflation allows them to coast through anyway, it concluded.
That means many students graduate without having benefited from talking very much with their teachers and peers, and they stay stuck in ideological bubbles, unwilling or unable to engage with challenging ideas...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=em-share
Had some interesting responses to this from Intro students*, to which I replied:
ReplyDeleteThere's part of the problem: reading--ANY amount of reading-- is perceived by students (present company excluded, I hope) to be NOT "fun"... And profs get the impression that none of the assignments are being read, so they feel obliged to go over material in class that SHOULD have been read but probably wasn't. When I ask questions about assignments, I'm often met with blank stares... and don't know if people are being reticent because they haven't done the reading, or because they're afraid of being negatively judged by peers & profs, or ...?
*https://cophilosophy2.blogspot.com/2025/10/harvard-students-skip-class-and-still.html#comment-form