For those of us who went to school in the early 80s (or earlier), you might be in for an eye opener on the state of higher education today (or not).
I'd be very interested in hearing from other people about this idea.
I went to college in the mid-1980s. I attended a Seven Sister college.
Here's a sample of my workload:
- No multiple choice tests, ever.
- English or other humanities classes: anything 200-level or up required at least one 20-page paper as well as shorter papers. There was a lot of reading (hundreds to thousands of pages per semester).
- Even some mid-100 level classes had us reading thousands of pages per semester. The papers were shorter, though.
- Exams were essay based. You typically picked x out of n questions to answer.
- Science classes: all had a lab component.
- You had to write lab reports every week.
- Exams were problem-based (same for math classes), though some questions asked for the general idea about [insert topic].
- The college had an honor code, and from what I could tell, people took it pretty seriously. But maybe I was oblivious.
That's a broad overview that leaves out some areas, but gives the general idea.
For people who finished college before 1990, what kind of college did you attend (small college, CC, big uni, public/private, etc.) and was your experience like?
For people who finished college more recently, what was your academic experience like?
