Item — HN Reader

> A typical belief among students is that classes are a series of hurdles to be overcome; at the end of this obstacle course, they shall receive a degree as testament to their completion of these assignments.

I agree with the broader point of the article in principle. We should be writing to edify ourselves and take education seriously because of how deep interaction with the subject matter will transform us.

But in reality, the mindset the author cites is more common. Most accounting majors probably don't have a deep passion for GAAP, but they believe accounting degrees get good jobs.

And when your degree is utilitarian like that, it just becomes a problem of minimizing time spent to obtain the reward.

1 comments

I think the author is conflating assignments with learning. The assignments are, by definition, hurdles to be overcome, and they will always be treated as such. Learning can happen in other better ways, and perhaps if your assignment design is to get students to generically regurgitate course material you shouldn’t be surprised when that’s exactly what they do.

I can’t be the only student who had both the experience of wonderful learning moments, AND could see a badly designed assignment a mile off and wasn’t motivated to give such a thing my full attention no?

As a side note, if you want the prompt, simply ask for it in the assignment. Asking students for one thing and then complaining when you don’t get another is insanity.