[Edu-sig] Low Enrollments

[David Handy]

On Wed, Oct 12, 2005 at 11:35:36PM -0700, Toby Donaldson wrote:
> > It appeared as if these kids thought there was a hard road to success
> > and an easy road to the same success, so planned to take the easy road.
> 
> Hmm, is this just the "kids today are lazy and didn't work as hard as
> I did in my day" argument? I don't buy that one. Kids today are no
> less lazy than at any other time in history. Perhaps they have more
> opportunity for leisure, but many still say they want to become
> doctors or nurses or lawyers --- careers that require lots of
> education and hard work.

I wasn't speaking about all kids everywhere in the world. But unfortunately
I have several more data points to show there really was a problem among
American kids in Oregon in the 1990's. I read reported statistics that said
Oregon was one of the bottom states of the US in terms of kids wanting to go
into *any* technical profession. I saw reports in the media of scholarship
programs and training programs with seats going empty for lack of interest.
The programming and electronics classes at Glencoe High were both canceled
for lack of interest.

Kirby is in better touch with the pulse of things back in Oregon now than I
am. Hopefully he has witnessed a rebound, hopefully things have gotten
better. But I believe there really was a dip in the 1990's.

> I think when a kid says "engineering is too hard", they are also
> saying that they don't see the rewards of engineering as very
> significant. I really don't see kids as being afraid to work hard;
> quite the opposite, I am often amazed at how hard students will work
> on something that is interesting and valuable to them.

Yes it is true that people find ways to work hard at things that interest
them; somehow many have a hard time finding something that is interesting
and valuable to them!

Unfortunately, the majority of this group told me that they were "undecided"
on what they wanted to major in. In particular I don't remember any saying
they wanted to become doctors, etc.

It seemed like we had a group of kids who were college-bound because their
parents had money, but they were unmotivated. Hopefully they became
"late-bloomers" and "found themselves" later on.

I didn't want to come across as saying "kids today are lazy" so much as to
emphasize that I've seen the correlation between a willingness to work --
including physical labor -- and entering and succeeding in technical fields
of study.  Good parents take note and prepare your children accordingly.

On a related note, I have also noticed a lack of confidence, a fear of
failure, contributing to people being unwilling to try difficult technical
studies.  Somehow someone has to convince them they can do it.  In my case
it was my father who boosted my confidence.  The parents' attitude makes a
big difference.  I remember teaching a programming seminar to a group of
12-year-olds as part of a Boy Scouts activity.  One young man kept saying
over and over "I'm just no good at this stuff" even though (1) he had never
tried before, so how did he know he wasn't good at it? and (2) he understood
and followed all the directions perfectly.  But I know why he said he was
"no good at this stuff" -- I had overheard his father saying that exact same
thing.

David H