[lbo-talk] How Much Do College Students Learn, and Study?

[Andy]

On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 5:41 PM,  <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> The discussion however, was about the first two years in college.
>
> I remember those two years. Students have to take a lot of survey classes then. I remember a survey of all English lit in one year. I remember taking a philosophy of history class in which we read one book a week. I remember at the same time doing a comp class, which was basically a five page paper every ten days. And on it went.
>
> I was fairly well read at that time, but I didn't have much "rigor" because I still needed to steep in the stuff -- having it become second nature. The rigor started more with the upper division classes, once that broad foundation had been set.

That's the problem I've had with a lot of class-taking, in humanities
and science alike: you -- I -- need to let things steep.  It's very
hard to let that happen when you have X pages of reading (preferably
done multiply) and Y pages of writing to do and to complete something
in Z weeks.  I can't think publish or perish contributes to critical
thought in the aggregate either.

And I say that as someone who got a reputation in grad school for
doing a lot of outside reading.  Which probably contributed to my
partial failure at it.

-- 
Andy