Large College Lecture Halls: An Opportunity to Learn or Simply a Place to Sleep?

Gregory Micek

Lectures play a major role in the education of modern college students. Students learn the majority of their material in large lecture halls where college professors present approximately fifty to ninety minute lectures over the material in their course. Although students attend these lectures, they do not always pay attention. Some students come to classes because the professors keep attendance but spend the majority of their time in class on their laptops surfing the Internet or on Facebook. Other students fall asleep or end up doodling on their notes.

Students do not always pay attention in lectures because they lack stimuli to encourage them to focus. Other than using “clickers,” or handheld personal response systems that use infrared or radio waves, students rarely interact with the professors or with each other. The lectures are just a long period of time in which a large group of students listens to a qualified individual’s rendition of math, science, history, or any other academic subject. The students do not always pay attention to the professor, and they do not always retain the information.

According to the Washington Post, “[o]nce, all professors spent entire classes talking nearly nonstop while students furiously scribbled notes.” The Washington Post also notes that “a growing number of professors are abandoning that tradition” because “there are better ways to keep students focused and learning.” The same source mentions a professor named Edward F. Redish who memorized the names and faces of the 192 students in his class, actively calls on them during his lectures, and may also do an experiment or show a portion of a movie during class.

Overall, professors have been teaching college students in large lecture halls for a long time. These large lecture halls do not help students to learn the material through class participation, and many students do not focus in class and do not retain the information presented to them. Some professors have begun to help students participate in class and more easily learn the material by implementing teaching methods which are more focused on the individual and less on simply speaking to a faceless crowd.

Is Going to College Worth the Price?

By Rohan Gupta

Although few would argue that investing for college is a poor investment, the recession is diminishing the value of that investment. The current downturn in the economy makes the future of many college students seem grim and these students now ask themselves whether paying the high costs for college is worth the price.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "In July, the unemployment rate for college graduates was 4.7%, up from 2.8% a year earlier." Also, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, "employers expect to hire 22% fewer graduates from the class of 2009 than the class of 2008." A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research stated in 2006 that, "those who graduate during a recession tend to start at smaller and lower paying companies or firms, forcing them to change jobs more frequently than those who graduate during better times." The study also found that "college students who graduate during a recession suffer an average 9% reduction in annual earnings initially, and that the discrepancies do not disappear until about 10 years after graduation."

Though this seems to be very disheartening news, University administrators cannot let these frightening statistics force students to abandon their education goals. They must find ways for students to receive a useful education at a practical price and provide tools to help the students survive in the modern career market. Shane discussed in his latest post about the possibility of state-run higher education in America. If there is a possibility of having free colleges in America, then there must be a possibility of significantly reducing college costs. If the federal government can spend billions of dollars on businesses, then it can surely spend that capital on higher education.

Europe is Definitely on to Something: Free University for all American Students

Shane Le Master

People are always discussing the options of having the government and the schools offer students more financial aid to help them pay for college. However, I never hear of anyone talking about another viable option where the government provides all students with absolutely free university. Seeing all the other things the government throws money at, there is no reason they shouldn’t be supporting a solid program such as this where any student can receive a college education without money stopping them from achieving their dreams.

The idea that the government should provide free education is no novel concept. In fact, it has been proven to work for many years in many countries throughout Europe. I have friends from Germany and they always talk about how in East Germany, universities do not charge students any fees upon being accepted into the institution. These free universities also provide some of the highest quality education in Europe. One such university the Freie Universität in Berlin is one of the top schools in all of Europe. Furthermore, the taxes in Germany are really not much higher than the taxes in the United States and they have no issue paying for this high quality education for their students. So there is no excuse to say that such a program would be too expensive to initiate in the United States.

I myself had to say no to a lot of great schools because my family and I could not afford the costs of attending. Considering how students are the future of the country, it seems a pity to have to see so many bright minds be turned down from an education because of their families’ low incomes. For a country such the United States that says it cares for the well-being of its citizens, the proposition of providing free education to University students must be seriously considered.

Time Managment

Kevin Corley

One of the greatest difficulties for students entering college is learning to manage their time. Moving on from high school to college creates a lot more opportunities for students but also a need for a lot more responsibility. Cree Walker states that students are unable to cope with all the activities in college. College presents students with clubs, fraternities, sororities, and various other organizations. Trying to handle school work in addition to all of these things can be quite a challenge for students entering a new environment with freedoms they have never had before.

Cree Walker believes that as students become more comfortable with their surroundings they become worse at managing their times. This is not the case. Students enter college with an inability to manage time. As time progresses, students understand how long it takes to get assignment done and what they have the time to do or not to do. Because students do not know initially how to manage their time, colleges should be doing a better time of teaching students time management skills. Before students figure this out, they can be faced with a great deal of stress that can be harmful to their academics and health.

With all the freedom present in college, it is easy for students to fall into traps. Students are presented with temptations to skip class and go to parties. If students are not given advice on time management it is easy for them to follow the trends of other students not doing work or going to class. Colleges need to stress the importance of managing time wisely so that students set aside the proper time to do homework and that they are attending class when they should. This would surely increase the grades of freshmen and likely increase the freshmen retention rate.

Studying Abroad

by Amber Lee

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, online courses help to connect students who are unable to take the courses in a traditional setting. Study abroad programs attempt to connect students globally and still give them a traditional setting. However, though the idea of study abroad programs makes sense in our “internationally integrated world,” they run the same risk as online programs: lack of credibility.

The popularity of study abroad programs is inarguable. Even amid a global recession, many of such programs have sustained and some are steadily growing. Having multiple campuses is obviously going to cost a university, but it is cheaper to open a branch college in another country than in the United States. This is mostly due to the fact that many colleges build their satellite schools in less developed countries.

The criticism for study abroad comes from the soundness of the programs. In theory, study abroad programs greatly coincide with our increasingly global community. But the reality is that many abroad schools are less strict and prestigious than their home schools. The quality of teachers is a key factor in why the programs are not very effective. Surprisingly, professors are not very keen on uprooting their families to teach in a foreign country with little compensation. They may offer instructs a bit more in pay, but normally they aren’t often tenure because no abroad school is guaranteed to last. Obviously, such job uncertainty does not attract many professors.

Many colleges encourage students to experience other cultures by having study and work abroad programs. Some larger universities even have branch colleges in other countries that offer many of the same courses as the home college. But even though the idea of a global university may appeal to some, the lack of tenured professors makes the institution more casual and lack integrity.

Recylcing On Georgia Tech

Scott Zadig

The recycling program implemented by Georgia Tech in order to make the campus a “greener” one has been very successful over the past decade. There have been campus wide efforts to create a recycling program that would exceed those of other college campuses across the United States. Just recently, the Georgia Tech Office of Solid Waste and Recycling received the National Recycling Coalition's Outstanding College or University Program award. This award was a great success for Georgia Tech’s program and they continue to hold the best record for university recycling programs across the nation.

Despite the national recognition in which Georgia Tech received for their successful program, I believe that as one of their students they could do an even better job. In 1997, Tech implemented their first recycling program specifically for the residential and housing facilities that reached approximately 60% of all facilities. Then a year later after the program was a huge success, the program expanded to every student on campus. With the program’s expansion, each suite and room on campus contained a blue recycling container to encourage residents to recycle. With this new system in place comes another problem: where do students take their overflowing recycle containers when they need to be emptied? After many weeks of not being able to easily find a place to dispose my recycled goods, I have sadly had to throw out recyclable goods in the dumpster. There is so much potential for increasing the amount of recycling on Georgia Tech’s campus, but the convenience for students to recycle is not available.

I did some research on a Georgia Tech's website concerning the recycling program and found that there are several sites campus where students can recycle used goods. The problem is these sites are not all convenient for students in dorms that are further away from the recycling sites. If there were more convenient recycling sites, I believe more students would be willing to make the extra effort to recycle. Unfortunately, not everyone is conscious or aware about the consequences of not recycling on the environment. If it is difficult to even recycle on campus, then it is only going to deter the cause. Students could increase the amount recycling of used goods if there were more convenient options available to the students.

College Cheating

Kevin Corley

With large lecture hall being common for test taking and rapidly advancing technology, cheating is becoming a severe issue. Realistically, colleges cannot monitor every single student to prevent cheating. Because of this, students easily give into cheating to make the grades that they need. Mentioned in an article about college cheating, a survey of 5331 undergraduate students, 56% of business students 47% of non-business students admitted to cheating within the past year.

The real issue with college cheating is that it undermines the accomplishment of earning a degree. The article above raises question as to whether a degree is an honest representation of academic accomplishment if a student who cheats earns the same degree as an honest student. This is definitely a concern. If such a large portion of students are cheating, than a degree’s value can be compromised. Ideally, cheating cannot be eliminated because enforcing it can be extremely costly. The article above states that the “price” to enforce cheating is significant and as a result, administrative action in fighting cheating is minimal. While I do believe that enforcing cheating can be costly, it is something worth paying for. If colleges do nothing about people cheating, then they are treating it like a joke. Cheating is a very serious act. Colleges should treat it as such. Many colleges make it sound like cheating is such a big deal yet there is still such a large portion of students that are cheating. This means that while colleges recognize that there is a cheating problem, they are doing nothing about it. By doing nothing, they are only making the problem much more severe that it could be if they put a little bit of enforcement into place.