I also cannot help thinking that this a major factor:-

Quote
"Both students and the schools they attend exist in larger structural and cultural contexts that have created the conditions under which the observed learning outcomes occur," the authors write. "Widespread cultural commitment to consumer choice and individual rights, self-fulfillment and sociability, and well-being and a broader therapeutic ethic leave little room for students or schools to embrace programs that promote academic rigor."

The trouble is that making a course rigorous means student reviews of the course will be lower which in turn incentivizes the 'professor' to keep things easy.

Keeping things easy at university is akin to having unlimited ice cream on the menu at a residential weight loss centre, IMO.


Become what you are