Wednesday, July 16, 2003
PROF TALK
One of my patients is my former UCLA Biology professor. In fact, he's one of the heads of the department and a really nice guy. While I was working on him today, we began to talk about how he's been forced to lower his standards considerably in the last 20 years because the students' expectations have changed. They no longer expect a university education to make them be thinkers and have inquisitive minds. They are not driven by curiosity. Instead, all they ask is, "Will this be on the test?"
In theory, I totally agree with him. And it's sad for me to think about how America's educational system has gone don the tubes. But, the truth is that I'm only 6 years removed from my UCLA education and I remember what it was like to be pressured to get a good grade for professional schools (aka med school). And I have to admit that I was mostly driven by the almighty grade rather than driven by the curiosity on how the world works. But I blame the way the current American educational system is designed. There's WAY too much emphasis on grades and not enough on just learning.
One of my patients is my former UCLA Biology professor. In fact, he's one of the heads of the department and a really nice guy. While I was working on him today, we began to talk about how he's been forced to lower his standards considerably in the last 20 years because the students' expectations have changed. They no longer expect a university education to make them be thinkers and have inquisitive minds. They are not driven by curiosity. Instead, all they ask is, "Will this be on the test?"
In theory, I totally agree with him. And it's sad for me to think about how America's educational system has gone don the tubes. But, the truth is that I'm only 6 years removed from my UCLA education and I remember what it was like to be pressured to get a good grade for professional schools (aka med school). And I have to admit that I was mostly driven by the almighty grade rather than driven by the curiosity on how the world works. But I blame the way the current American educational system is designed. There's WAY too much emphasis on grades and not enough on just learning.
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