Wikipedia generation is lazy and unprepared for university's rigours, survey of faculty says
Apr 06, 2009 04:30 AM
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Kristin Rushowy
EDUCATION REPORTER
University professors feel their first-year students are less mature, rely too much on Wikipedia and "expect success without the requisite effort," says a province-wide survey to be released today.
And guess what? In this case, many students agree with their profs.
"I think it's a fair assessment," said first-year Ryerson journalism student Annie Webber. "I'm addicted to Wikipedia."
Lina Kim, a fourth-year University of Toronto sociology student who works in the U of T's Robarts Library, agrees.
"Many students can't even ask for help. Partly, it's generational, the attitude and sense of entitlement they have," Kim said.
More than 55 per cent of Ontario's faculty and librarians surveyed believe students are less prepared for university than even three years ago. In fact, many post-secondary institutions have had to create catch-up courses to help those who are struggling.
"It wasn't a shock for me – I'm aware of what's happening out there," said Brian Brown, a University of Windsor visual arts professor. He also heads the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, which oversaw the online survey of about 2,000 professors and university librarians out of the province's 15,000.
"What the questionnaire reveals is a serious challenge that we are facing in the system. We are teaching students from what is basically an underresourced secondary school system."
James Côté, a sociology professor at the University of Western Ontario, says the survey confirms a lot of recent research, and that the decline in student preparedness began years ago but has more recently accelerated.
"It's a wider societal issue, where leisure is very much valued and work habits are not necessarily reinforced in the way that they were in the past. The work ethic is not what it used to be ... no pain, no gain doesn't seem to be prevalent any more."
The problem is that standard home assignments are now almost meaningless at high-school level. The student only needs to rephrase ideas and not necessarily understand them.
I understand it's hard for professors to think of home assignments (at a high school level) that are able to circumvent this, so I guess one possibility is relying even more on exams for evaluation.
Originally posted by PalynkaThe education system realized back in the day that the acquistion of knowledge wasn't it's primary function. Rather, the PROCESSS of acquiring knowledge (researching, collaborating with classmates, etc) was the main goal. In order to obtain knowledge, a student had to engage in that process. That process required discipline, hard work, and a comittment to the investigative process.
More like technological progress requires an adapting educational system.
Today, the knowledge can be obtained without going through that process. A few google clicks and the knowledge is there. None of the skills have been acquired. We've reduced the education system now to the pursuit of trivia for the purposes of regurgitation.
Originally posted by uzlessSo we agree? 😲
The education system realized back in the day that the acquistion of knowledge wasn't it's primary function. Rather, the PROCESSS of acquiring knowledge (researching, collaborating with classmates, etc) was the main goal. In order to obtain knowledge, a student had to engage in that process. That process required discipline, hard work, and a comittment to ...[text shortened]... reduced the education system now to the pursuit of trivia for the purposes of regurgitation.
Originally posted by uzlessi think you found the answer. yes, a few cliks and the knowledge is there so we do not require the skillz anymore. like we don't require the skill of spear hunting because it has been replaced with a trip to the supermarket.
The education system realized back in the day that the acquistion of knowledge wasn't it's primary function. Rather, the PROCESSS of acquiring knowledge (researching, collaborating with classmates, etc) was the main goal. In order to obtain knowledge, a student had to engage in that process. That process required discipline, hard work, and a comittment to ...[text shortened]... reduced the education system now to the pursuit of trivia for the purposes of regurgitation.