Education has really lost its purpose in today's generation. Students no longer value the use or gain of knowledge. Instead they only care of finding ways to receive a passing grade just so they can graduate.
" I find myself at a point with school where I recognize that the classes for the most part will have knowledge that is completely not interesting and I find myself saying if I could get an A the first day and never come back I would, as ignorant as that sounds," said Junior, Jaeden Jackson. "I just want to graduate with my degree at this point."
There was a time where people enjoyed learning and wanted to become wiser, but now that it is a surviving social requirement, some students look at it as only that.
" I always study a few days before exams and stuff so the answers can be fresh in my head, but after, I usually forget most of what I studied," said Jordan White, a junior transfer here at EMU.
It's clear some students are worshipping the grading scales more than their lectures. Which correlates with how some students could care less of what they are learning and only care about how to achieve an optimum letter grade. These beliefs lead to study habits where students temporarily store information for upcoming exams and assignments only then to forget the information directly after.
" I definitely think some students value grades more than the learning aspect of college," said English professor, Sheerah Cole. " Some of my students in the past have only did what I believed to be just enough to get through my class. They'd miss class multiple times, yet still manage to turn in assignments."
Some teachers agree on this theory, but there are some who beg to differ. Vance Kennedy, a Chemistry professor at EMU is one of those who disagree.
" You have to learn and have to want to learn chemistry and math in order to earn a passing grade. You can't study it and memorize it for a couple days and expect an A."
Other teachers believe it depends on each individual student on how much they value education versus letter grades.
" In some cases you do have those students that don't care what you're teaching. But in some cases you have the students that love their major and want to be proficient in the field they are going into, so they developed that aspiration to learn," said professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Solange Simoes.
"But then u have those students who don't care and don't even know what they want to be in life. Those are the students who focus less on actually learning the material and only doing enough to remain in good standing in the university."
The standard of higher education has risen, it has become the norm for many people that want to reach a certain level of success, and due to this college has morphed into a fixed system. It's not about learning anymore, however it's about paying and surviving through those 4 to 5 years until your degree is framed.
