[navait]

I am a fresh graduate, and I came into university with the same attitude as him, in a scholarship program full of people with my attitude. Fortunately, the dean talked to my freshman class during orientation. He said: "Yes, you're smart. But you'll find here, everyone else is also smart. You'll find that you have to distinguish yourself through the work you do.". Admittedly, my ego was too big at the time to really take the thought seriously, but after meeting so many wonderful people at the university, and many people who were so ridiculously smarter than I was I realized how special I wasn't. For the most part, I found people who kept my attitude didn't fare as well as the students who did change.

I also think posts like this ignore all the students who navigate the system successfully. It makes our universities seem as failures, when they provide so much value and sucesses.

[zanny]

They are situational tools. They are not the catch all sink of learning, in the same way public instructor driven 30 students 40 - 60 minute blocks x8 chalkboard and tests isn't the catch all way to teach the masses in general for 12 years. The problem is everyone wants a one size fits all answer that takes in toddlers and spits out hyper-successful professionals in the most prosperous industries and human beings aren't best placed on conveyor belts in a factory.

Some people benefit. Some people suffer. Some are indifferent and get bored. The bigger problem is figuring out there are many ways to learn beyond a book and a grade, and that we need to figure out how each individual learns best.