I am writing this article as I sit in class because the lecturer can’t keep my attention. I am writing this article in class because everyone around me is either asleep, playing with their pens, or doing something for another class. My university has turned me into a zombie, going through the motions of attending lectures like this one, and cramming out thoughtless and soon forgotten assignments. College wasn’t supposed to be this way.
College was supposed to be about memorable professors who taught, entertained, and provoked. As a business school student my freshman and sophomore years, I found only 2 lecturers, Jack Nickerson and Michael Gordinier, who succeeded in all three. They are both gifted public speakers that find topics that make students think, even after they have finished lecturing.
Other professors simply print out and read power point notes, demand memorization of mindless formulas, and give tedious projects that encourage neither learning nor curiosity. I finally left the B-school after taking the first class for my major, Finance 340 with Professor Jonathan Taylor (whose class I later told students to boycott). Lectures were dull, unclear, and left students scrambling for other students to teach them the material. One lecture involved Professor Taylor spending the majority of the class trying to answer his own homework question.
As a result, the majority of students in the B-school dislike and are bored by their classes and professors, and none seem to have any active interest in what is being taught. Although things appear to be better in Arts & Sciences, I have still encountered few professors who are creative and ambitious enough to be both encouraging, and challenging in either lectures or assignments. Most simply lecture, assign, mark, and return.
If any administrator is reading this, take note. I have spoken to students and they agree: this is the real status of your school, not the #12 ranking you pride yourself on (notice how Washington University’s academic rating is consistently lower than its peer schools). One reason for this, as I experienced in the B-school, is the hiring of gifted professionals who are simply untalented professors. I respect the difficulty of teaching; however, just as the Yankees don’t win by signing inexperienced ballplayers, WU can’t help students become great by hiring incompetent teachers. As paying students, we have a right to expect more quality than this, not be treated like guinea pigs.
Students in this university need to learn how to become more knowledgeable and critical thinkers, better communicators, and better writers. Our current school system, which forces students to cram facts we later forget, to pull all-nighters on papers, and which involves little or no contact between students and professors to correct repeated mistakes and challenge students’ ideas, has resulted in less-than-impressive thinkers on this campus. A philosophy professor of mine, James Buickerood (now at UMSL), once commented on a paper that I wrote, “What the f-k is this? Let me guess, you’re in the B-school.” At the time I was. “They should really shut that place down,” he said, and spent the rest of the semester helping to destroy and rebuild my writing and ideas. Many students, however, have not benefited from such guidance.
There does exist one class, Argumentation, and specifically one professor, Joan Brockmann, where monotone lecturing is replaced with creative discussions. She successfully guides students towards becoming more active thinkers and stronger writers, rather than following the B-school method of regurgitating useless textbooks. To become better students, I advise students to take Argumentation, and I advise students to take as few B-school classes as possible. If you want to do business, do a business internship. Not only will you gain invaluable experience that no B-school class will provide, but you will also get a better grasp on whether you even want to do business at all.