Geting Your Money's Worth

To the Editor:

Recently, while riding the elevator in Belfer Hall, I overheard the following conversation among a group of YU students. One guy asked another what a certain class was like, what, in particular, it was like to be in a class that met once a week for three hours straight. The student replied something to the effect of the following. "It's not so bad. He gives us a break in the middle. I only go to the first half of the class, and then I leave during the break." He was then asked how grading in the class worked. The other replied: "Well, there's no midterm and he's trying to do away with the final." When asked how he was then going to be graded, he responded: "Based on the group project. I signed up to be in a group with two smart guys. I'm in charge of typing." As I got out of the elevator, I muttered softly, "I'm glad you're getting your money's worth."

I do not know whether these students heard me, or, for that matter, cared about my opinion, but their conversation got me thinking. For years now, I have noticed a kind of paradoxical attitude on the part of some YU students. On the one hand, they look for easy A courses, avoid professors known to be demanding, and spend time photocopying Mesorah, rather than trying to study the course material. Some seem to believe that grades can be earned or improved by schnorring, rather than by studying. They seem frustrated or even angry when they must work hard, or do not do as well as they wished, or cannot convince the instructor to improve their grade. But, at the same time, these same students seem to lack respect for this institution's academic integrity. They don't feel pride as students, and they often complain about the quality of their secular education.

I believe there are a lot of legitimate reasons why students look for shortcuts or "easy A's." They are under tremendous time pressure, much more than at other academic institutions. They are in college at a time when graduate and professional school admissions are highly competitive. The culture they come from places extremely high expectations on men, in terms of professional and monetary achievement. Additionally, as at other institutions, students taking required courses oftentimes find themselves enrolled in courses they are not interested in and therefore not inspired by. For all these reasons, it seems reasonable that students look for shortcuts or ways of alleviating some of the pressure they're under.

What bothers me, though, is when I hear those same students complain about the very situation they have helped to create and sustain. I hear students complain about YU's reputation within the Jewish community, or about professors who give the same exams over and over, or about easy A courses that close immediately and are therefore only open to seniors. But these are the same students who put off particular requirements until their senior year, so that they can sign up for the first-to-close sections, or who get upset when a particular instructor gives a "new" final examination.

As a faculty member, I care very much about the students that I teach and advise, and I try to make sure that they are always getting their money's worth. To me, a student has been cheated, intellectually as well as monetarily, if a course he enrolls in does not challenge him or raise his level of knowledge. At the same time, I believe that certain students need to acknowledge the role that they play in the watering down of their own education. I think they ought to be embarrassed by some of the comments I overhear them make in the elevator. After investing three to four years of hard work, not to be able to graduate feeling pride in one's accomplishments is, to me, a real shame.

Gail Horowitz

Yeshiva College Chemistry Department