Cost per hour of real time for an undergraduate degree program at a state university:
($4500 ÷ 15 weeks) ÷ (4 classes x 3 days x 1 hour) = $25
($4500 ÷ 15 weeks) ÷ (4 classes x 3 days x 1 hour) = $25
I've been a little disappointed at the educational benefit I've derived so far from attending my macroeconomics class. Lectures are essentially a regurgitation of the textbook in slideshow + anecdotes format, providing nothing I can't decipher just by reading the textbook. Hence the consideration of my costs for attending this class.
The class has no attendance requirements, and until the material becomes more difficult to grasp, I will most likely continue my policy of not attending on Mondays and Fridays. All of the quizzes are scheduled, as are exams, so as long as I keep reading the book, I'm not losing anything by skipping. Other than the expenses I've incurred by paying for the class that is. Which, if I skip 2/3rds of the class by the end of the semester, I will have wasted...
The class has no attendance requirements, and until the material becomes more difficult to grasp, I will most likely continue my policy of not attending on Mondays and Fridays. All of the quizzes are scheduled, as are exams, so as long as I keep reading the book, I'm not losing anything by skipping. Other than the expenses I've incurred by paying for the class that is. Which, if I skip 2/3rds of the class by the end of the semester, I will have wasted...
($25 per hour x 15 weeks) x (2 classes not attended x 1 hour) = $750
Looking at those numbers it would seem like it would be foolish to skip the class, and knowing what I now know about the class, it was foolish to sign up for it in the first place. However, the class is required for my degree plan, so there is additional value for the class besides what I may learn from attending it, reading the text, taking the exams, etc. I cannot receive my degree unless I take this class, and considering the value of attending the class as a waste, I must also discard the $750 in unexploited class time.
Now, because my ultimate motivation for taking this class is to receive a degree, the class' value is long term, it's short term benefits are negligible to the point of being non-existent. Why is this the case?
Because the situation I'm facing is the same one every other undergraduate student faces, we have bought into our cultural ethos that attending college and at least graduating with a bachelor's degree is necessary for upward mobility, even survival, in the job market of our times.
This concept of a class' value existing entirely within it's contribution to a degree plan requirement applies to nearly every undergraduate course I have taken. The level of knowledge, practical or theoretical, attainable from any undergraduate course is shallow, not because of same base professorial ineptitude or deliberate agenda of the faculty as a whole. The demand for an undergraduate course that provides an effective level of knowledgeability and understanding of a subject simply isn't there. And if the student body does not demand it, the school itself will never see fit to provide it.
Now, because my ultimate motivation for taking this class is to receive a degree, the class' value is long term, it's short term benefits are negligible to the point of being non-existent. Why is this the case?
Because the situation I'm facing is the same one every other undergraduate student faces, we have bought into our cultural ethos that attending college and at least graduating with a bachelor's degree is necessary for upward mobility, even survival, in the job market of our times.
This concept of a class' value existing entirely within it's contribution to a degree plan requirement applies to nearly every undergraduate course I have taken. The level of knowledge, practical or theoretical, attainable from any undergraduate course is shallow, not because of same base professorial ineptitude or deliberate agenda of the faculty as a whole. The demand for an undergraduate course that provides an effective level of knowledgeability and understanding of a subject simply isn't there. And if the student body does not demand it, the school itself will never see fit to provide it.
