In 2007 Michael Wesch in collaboration with Kansas State University has conducted a survey of student life that consisted of two-hundred participating students, they completed the survey with 367 edits to one single document. KSU's efforts to show us a glimpse of the hectic life of college students in current society is a well known fact to people like me, current students, but may come as a surprise to some. Being a student should be considered a full time job, but not all students are fortunate enough to be in postions where they can solely attend college. Single parents and working adults not elligable for grants and financial aid are left to take night classes, leave their children in childcare or take out dreaded student loans. Many college life issues are addressed in this study ranging from hours slept per night (seven), how unprepared college leaves students to face life after college, and the effects of technology in the classroom. Interestingly, they present their information in the form of a video filmed with a shaky camcorder and written messages on walls, chairs, notebooks and laptops held by students as well as the traditional image of a teacher writing on a chalkboard.
Another topic addressed in this video is the uncertaintly experienced by students who are preparing for jobs in a future market that may be unpredictable in the world we know today. To prepare for something they do not know the requirements for while undergoing a considerable amount of debt for their education, an average of $20,000 among those surveyed, it's easy to see where the stress comes in, coupled with the actual requirements of college courses; required reading, writing assignments (calculated at 42 pages of writing per semester), hundred dollar books that they will never open ... it's shocking to think that students today don't possess superhuman powers or Hermione's Time Turner as presented in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. How these students manage this inhuman amount of course work and a social life or work life should be submitted to the Vatican as evidence of a true miracle.
In the closing scenes of the video, they state the some people have suggested that technology is our only hope of fuctioning in the high expectation enviroment we've emerdersed ourselves in. Despite the many useful applications to new technology we've aquired over the years, technology still poses a threat in an educational setting, With more and more options for cheating and of cheating yourself of your education through easy to reach distractions like cellular phones and surfing the internet while looking as if you are taking notes on course material, I would not be suprised to see a small backlash of technology in classrooms. Even now teachers are banning cellphones in class rooms, with very marginal success, not without protest of the student body who are so connected with technology that it is disoreintating to hold out from it.
While the future of education and our job market is uncertain, it seems as if Mr. Wesch and Kansas State University plan to keep us informed and I, personally, am all ears.
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