The following is a list of things that I happen to disagree with in regards to university studies. Please excuse me if I sound like I’m whining.

Lectures longer than 1 and 1/2 hours

Honestly, a college student’s attention span is very limited. After about 45 minutes of lecture, more than half the students are waiting for the class to be over. Understandably there are some classes, such as labs, which are exceptions and require long periods of work. But for the most part I think long classes, mainly lectures, are not very conducive to learning.

Classes earlier than 9am

The lifestyle of a college student simply does not cater to an early morning. I think that it is inevitable that after you’re first semester in college you realize that you can’t sleep before midnight. Most nights are late nights. That’s because things just don’t get done until the night. That project that you’re working on with a fellow student, can’t get started until you both have free time…aka at night.

Excessive assignments (homework and papers)

I cannot stand it when teachers assign assignments for the sake of having assignments. (Yes, I know I used assign like 3 times in one sentence.) It is fine to have homework or papers for a class, however, I believe only when necessary, meaning when it will actually help a student learn more about a topic. Writing a paper every two weeks just to see that you did the reading is not the best way to go about encouraging learning. A student is either going to read or not read and I think by the time they’re in college, they are mature enough to decide for themselves. It shouldn’t be the professors job to assign papers or give quizzes to make sure everyone’s doing the reading. In fact, one of my classes last semester only had 2 papers and a final exam. I probably learned more in that class then I would have if it had like 5 papers, because instead of having time to read at my own pace, I would have been stressing over the papers every other week.

Courses that are meant to weed out students for a major and are therefore are designed extremely difficult

Because of this, I get bad grades, lose interest in a subject that I used to love, and switch majors. (Well not completely because of this, but you get the idea.)

Professors who give lectures like they are writing a research paper

Some professors need to take a class on how to present in front of students. Giving a lecture to students is NOT the same thing as giving a research presentation.

Professors or classes that do not accept electronic submission of assignments

We currently live in a world filled with technology. Yes I know that for some its hard to change old habits, but its essential that professors learn new technologies just as students do. I’m not saying that you have to digitally grade and comment on all assignments, I’m just saying that you should allow students to submit assignments online. As leaders in sustainability, UNC should require that all teachers simply allow online submissions. If they can’t read or grade all papers on their computer, then thats fine, but they should just print it out themselves. The same goes for handouts. Printing should be optional. Try to save some trees.

Prohibiting students from using computers during lectures, even though they pose no disruption to the class or fellow students

Students today multi-task. That is a fact. If I’m not disturbing anyone around me, why is it wrong to be working on other assignments or read for another class, when I’m in a lecture. I think Professors who have the “all eyes should be on me and everyone should be taking notes” philosophy are living in some type of idealistic “worship me” classroom. Okay, maybe not that extreme, but a college student is an extremely busy individual and every second counts, even that moment when the professor spends 10 minutes trying to figure out how to use the projector. I could very much clear half my emails for the day in that time.

Professors who call out students for being late to lectures

Really? Get a life. Again, going back to my point about how college students are busybodies and don’t find any extra time. Sometimes, its necessary to skip class or arrive late to class. Get over it, we are all adults here and we have the right to decide how to prioritize our responsibilities. So having a professor call someone out for being late is just disrespectful, in my humble opinion.

Mandatory attendance of lectures

I’m not going to repeat myself, but I believe technology will help us with this. Its true that I find myself learning more when I actually attend lectures, however, it should not be mandatory to attend all lectures. Most classes don’t enforce such a rule, but some teachers find it necessary to do so, hoping that it will improve grades. I think all lectures, at least the large lecture classes, should be recorded and streamed online.