Lazy Babies

My wife was telling me about a parent who is a professor of architecture in Istanbul and was transferred to Montreal for a year for her job.

It was interesting to hear the professor tell the story of how babyish students had become in Istanbul. The reason it's interesting is because a friend of ours who teaches at the Universite de Montreal said the exact same things about Canada. No one thinks for themselves anymore. They want everything handed to them on a silver platter as they listen to their iPods in class. And if you don't deliver and dare give them a low grade, watch out. In one case, she explained how she gave her class a topic to explore only for them to come back exasperated explaining they "google" searched the topic but found nothing. No one thought to do research at a library.

I observed the same things 18 years ago in university. A professor would provide the syllabus and the students would assume the professor had to narrow down what part of the book they were "responsible" for. The more sarcastic and blunt professors would answer "all of it". With a "dumbass" in their mind of course. I mean, our syllabuses were a joke. Already we were ripping off society with low tuition and the course would request we read two or three books.

There are no real standards anymore and I've met many a stupid, daft MBA student.

But hey, excellence has been weeded out of the equation to make sure no one is "left behind."

The ship is sunk.