Is This Education or Just a Game?

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Is This Education or Just a Game? “To a professor, education is like constructing a building, with each brick of knowledge resting on prior bricks. But to most students, it is more like a sport. Students prepare feverishly for each match (exam), taking away their points and their standing (grade) and little else” says Walter R. Tschinkel in his article titled “Is This Education or Just a Game?” In this current event article Tschinkel discusses on the fact that majority of college students remember nothing from their previous courses, or even from their previous exams. Tschinkel is a professor of biological science at Florida State University; he explains “Rarely can a student give a coherent explanation of simple principles learned in middle or high school, much less in college”. The article goes on to elucidate that people believe that higher grades indicate more learning but for some students, this applies only immediately before the test and perhaps a day or two after. College students prepare anxiously for exams and when the exams are over, students take away only their points, their rank, and their grade. The article also states “The goal of an education is solely a piece of paper or a grade of an exam, we are dedicating an entire institution to a trivial goal”. Tschinkel believes “we are failing to instill a love of learning in most of our students, replacing it instead with a pointless “game-the system” approach”. Tschinkel also states, the blame falls not only on the students, but on the entire educational system- professors, teachers, parents, the media- which encourages the sport metaphor and misrepresents the value of a true education. Tschinkel feels that students can change this mentality and actually take their education seriously however, this transition will be hard. The educational value of this article is for students and professors to realize
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