Have you ever seen an 18-year-old whine?

By Rhia Perkins

There’s a disturbing trend here at the university, one that could affect your education and mine. The plague seems to be striking students of all ages, sexes and nationalities. You don’t have to be afflicted with the disorder to suffer its consequences, and everyone is at risk. I’d be surprised if you hadn’t experienced it by now–the student in your class who does nothing but complain that the textbook’s too hard, the prof speaks too fast, and no one told them what would be on the test is the student unprepared to take responsibility for their education.

Certainly, this is not a new phenomenon; first-year classes have been plagued with it for years, and there have always been a fair percentage of people who coasted through their degree by whining enough to get endless extensions. These days, however, it seems classes at every level are full of complainers who want the course material spoon-fed to them by a tenured baby-sitter. Students demand detailed handouts, overheads that at least summarize the lecture being given, or better yet, Web pages that feature the notes for all the lectures so they don’t even have to go to class.

Gone are the days of learning how to learn. Obviously, copying down notes while a professor talks is too hard, and studying for tests without a study guide is impossible. No one has time to go to class and pay attention or the patience to read the textbook carefully at home. How, then, did so many students do it that way for so many years? Today, resources are available for professors to coddle their students, the way students in high school have hand-holding teachers to help them through, and students are loathe to accept anything less.

Even when professors are willing to give students all the help they need, it seems to be too scary or too much effort to make an appointment with the instructor in question–office hours seem to be perceived as simple decoration for the syllabus or office door. If the instructor does not meet the exaggerated and self-important needs of these overgrown infants, the only recourse that seems possible is a bitchfest with their friends, or in the most serious cases, a meeting with the Department Head. An interesting extension of sending mommy to meet with the principal to make it all better.

What happened to the thrill of learning and the drive to achieve? Has the piece of paper you get for finishing really become more important than the process of getting there? It’s time to take the university back from the masses who see their education as something they should be given, instead of something they can only achieve on their own.