Saturday, April 16, 2016

Double Down On Dumb



University Students Are Struggling To Read Entire Books

During a brief foray between my science classes and into taking a few business classes, I ran across a student who on her first day of hearing she had to learn about graphs in our Intro To Microeconomics class went into a meltdown. She threw her writing implement across her desk and yelled, "Graphs?" She clearly didn't expect any math in her major of business administration.

Wow.

It didn't take me long to realize I wasn't a good fit for the business administration curriculum and I decided to stick with science.

That was years ago, but now they're whining about reading books?

Oh, we're in so much trouble.

12 comments:

Jan said...

Come on, Cube. The little snowflakes may not have a safe place to finish reading the book for the whole month it may take them. And those books on women's studies or advanced witchcraft can be challenging.

cube said...

Jan: Yes, and don't forget those deep tomes about black studies. We should be more tolerant ;)

Sandee said...

I have a BS in Business Management. It served me well in the Sheriff's Department with budgets. I get it though. I remember some folks in the class that felt the same way about statistics.

I think the majority of young folks have never held a book. If it's not electronic media then they are lost. There is nothing like the smell of a good book. I too fear where we are heading.

Have a fabulous day. ☺

LL said...

I have one of those cool libraries in my home with book shelves from floor to 12' ceiling and it's only some of the books that I own. My sons in law do not read...much. Certainly they would not read a book. Why, when you can be force-fed crap on television? When I die, they will likely demo the shelving and smooth out the walls for sports posters.

messymimi said...

It's too sad. One semester, i read Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, several of Shakespeare's plays and plays by his contemporaries, and that wasn't the whole list. All i had to do was figure out when i had to finish a book and work backward to figure how many pages to read each day to keep up.

Kid said...

I've heard College freshmen aren't very good at reading in the first place, many having to take remedial reading courses.

This country is so screwed. Time to split it two.

DaBlade said...

These little darlings shouldn't have to read any book over 140 characters. If its good enough for twitter, than it's good enough for the edu

cube said...

Sandee: My husband has a degree in business administration. I wasn't belittling the major, but there were many who were in it because they thought it would be a cake curriculum. Statistics and graphs were a shock to their systems. I preferred to be with the nerds on the other side of the campus.

As much as I love technology, I have resisted ebooks because I love the feeling of holding a book and turning the pages. And yes, I understand what you mean by 'the smell of a good book." I'm on your page about that.

cube said...

LL: We have a library at our house, too. They've accumulated over the years because we're all avid reader. If the grid ever goes down, everyone will regret tossing theirs.

cube said...

Messymimi: I miss the good old days of having open ended time to read. I managed the classics, the textbook assignments and considered myself lucky if I could sneak in a good mystery now and then.

cube said...

Kid: Reading is fundamental (so is math in my book), but it's a sad thing when these "educated" children can't even read, much less do math.

cube said...

DaBlade: Those little darlings have been raised on sound bytes. We'll all have brain implants before too long that will make learning something akin to the buggy whip and the daily ice delivery for the icebox. Some would push that as progress.