College the Easy Way | Hacker News Reader

College the Easy Way

nytimes.com

"But a lack of academic focus has not had much of an effect on grade point averages or the ability of the undergraduates to obtain their degrees."

Yes, college grade averages have been rising at quite a few colleges around the United States.

http://gradeinflation.com/

I can collaborate what the article is asserting about many students "skating by" with five or so hours a week of study. This is more prominent in the social sciences than, say, engineering, where I am. I frequently notice students drinking in the middle of the day or goofing off all day when others spend the recommended 40+ hours outside of class in the library.

I guess this shows how a college degree no longer means much on its own, and students need to make sure they are leaving with marketable skills that employers demand. Some programs, CS for example, arguably allow students to move directly into a productive position out of university, while others seem to lack in this aspect.

I will second this in the social sciences, I went to a top rated public liberal arts school and I studied at most an average of probably 1 - 2 hours per class per week. So that's 5 hours per week for a typical semester.

on my literature course, in the finaly year, more than once somebody read a 'presentation' that was copied straight from wikipedia, indicating they couldn't even put in more than 5 mins effort when they had an actual assignment. add to this that the majority of people never say a fucking thing in seminars, and the 5 hour per week figure sounds about right.

From what I've seen, the intersection between "Material taught as part of a CS degree" and "Material needed to be a competent coder" is alarmingly small. The people who turn out to be good programmers are the ones who are working on their own stuff outside of class--and aren't just making sure they can sort a linked list efficiently.

"Perhaps more now than ever, the point of the college experience is to have a good time and walk away with a valuable credential after putting in the least effort possible."

And then they wonder why a college degree is not a ticket to a good job.

> And then they wonder why a college degree is not a ticket to a good job.

Because everyone around them tells them as much. My grandparents think I should have a job because I have a degree. In my opinion, my parents also overvalue my degree though not as much as my grandparents.

In the U.S. at least, graduates do still seem to do pretty well at getting some kind of job, whether good / relevant to the degree or otherwise. Unemployment is only 4-5% for people with a 4-year college degree, considerably less than for other categories: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm

Of course, just those numbers don't say what the cause and effect are. It's possible the graduates getting jobs could also have gotten jobs without a degree. But I suspect having a degree still boosts employment odds.

Do we have statistics on how many people with 4-year degrees transition from "unemployed" to "not in work force?"

The unstated assumption here is that working hard in college actually pays off for a student later in life. Many college graduates end up doing work unrelated to their majors. Even those who do work related to their majors are required to take classes in things they don't need to know. And many college professors give assignments that take a lot of time without providing students much benefit.

Ah, the kids these days...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com