Jeff wrote:
>
>There are certain general-studies couses that almost all students at my
>school take that are notoriously easy.
When students get into my
>course, they cannot understand why I am so "hard." I can't blame them
>for thinking this way about my courses when their experiences in certain
>other disciplines at this school show them that they can get a good
>grade with little or no work.
>
>Has this been a problem at your school (i.e., large differences across
>disciplines in the rigor of courses)?
Absolutely. It isn't limited to community colleges. And I suspect that
enrollment would determine how receptive the administration would be to talk
of increasing work requirements in these courses. With so many schools
following the business model, my guess is that they like courses that "keep
the customer satisfied".
What
>upsets me about it is that these students don't have a chance once they
>get into upper-division courses. I'm also wondering if this is more of a
>problem at community colleges than at other centers of higher education.
>If so, it puts students transferring from community colleges at a
>disadvantage.
I have seen this phenomena for 20 years, and this is a four year university.
Of late, freshman have been comparing their college courses to high school
classes, e.g., "I got an A in my high school psychology class but am running
a D in yours." implying that I am at fault.
Rip Pisacreta
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