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by j-m-o 4777 days ago
I suppose I fall into the category of a 21st century student, although I finished my CS degree in the early 'noughts.

I think the thesis of the article is generally accurate, that students are capable, but less inclined, to pay attention to things not deemed worthy of the effort. However, I think the ability to separate the wheat from the chaff of stimulus is also an important lesson.

I look back to most of my courses fondly, but there were definitely periods where the professor was rehashing previously covered material, or pushing their own research agendas well beyond the course curriculum. As a student with limited hours (and in my case limited again with several part-time jobs), does it make sense to pay perfect attention to the lectures at hand, or maybe put the finishing touches on that assignment for another class?

That said, coming back to the author's example of art history, that was one of the most rewarding classes I took in university. Albeit a 3-hour examination of one work seems excessive, there's a lot to gain from the appreciation of fine works outside of algorithms and data structures.