College Students These Days

.
Gone are the days when information, facts and analysis could be given to students without a lot of decoration.

I just passed a classroom this afternoon where students were playing some sort of game.  On one hand, there are lots of highly educational games for middle-schoolers which our undergrads may never have seen, and it is just possible that one of these may make more of an impact on a jaded freshman than a simple lecture, even if the lecture is beautifully delivered with Powerpoint slides, a sprig of parsley and a cherry on top.

I myself occasionally use a game or two to draw in the attention of a student whose hands are sneaking towards their cell phones to stave off utter boredom.  But then, I'm teaching future teachers, and they need to have a trick or two to lay on their future students, who are even more likely to have their attentions wander.

Some faculty getting into the action

One usually assumes that each new generation learns more sophisticated information than the last.  But we've arrived at a point where the trend is reversed: some material actually has to be taken out, to make space for games and entertainment.  I don't mean my own institution, oh no.  We would never do that.  But other institutions do a lot of this.  Cut the curriculum in half, and put in lots of fun.  No fun, no work.  Jack* is not going to be a dull boy if he can possibly help it.

But good luck getting your fresh young graduate to do the work of a senior employee, if you're hiring!  Chances are he only learned about the first 15 letters in the alphabet, because the last--however many-- had to be jettisoned to make space for the occasional period of fun.

Unless you hire somebody from our school :)

Arch
[* An obscure reference to the old adage that 

"All work and no play

Makes Jack a dull boy."

--just in case your elementary school reading list was a trifle incomplete.]