Exams must Fall! The next student demand?

The following concerns clips and reports of South African students at the University of Limpopo storming out of their third-year Philosophy exam, because they felt it was too difficult.

Specifically in SA we've had hashtag causes like Rhodes must Fall (the removal of colonial statues from campuses), Fees must Fall (a demand for free university education), and some are wondering whether Exams must Fall will be the "fallist" slogan of 2018 (as final exams loom towards the end of the year).

Not that I think such behavior is, or will be limited to South Africa.
Many Western campuses have seen similar entitled and demanding behavior (not so much the conservative and religious campuses).
Particularly the humanities' students know how to use identity politics to devastating effects, but I say also in self-defeating ways.
I mean how much is a degree without an exam still worth?
Will the taxpayer, or parents, or even future students fork out money for it?
And I have absolutely no doubt that with mass mobilization and intimidation (including violence, as per usual), they can stop exams completely, and get a pass on attendance and essays.

An opinion by the SA vlogger Renaldo Gouws (with clips):


A news source: www.enca.com...

a reply to: halfoldman

Oh, they are most certainly taking pages from our snowflakey youth. I think the only reason it hasn't happened here yet is because they're too busy trying to change the outcome of THE election.... still.

While some might argue this is specifically South African, I've seen more than enough clips of triggered millennials from global campuses acting very similarly. Hence I put it in a global news forum. It could become quite the meme.

The best is the woman taking the crib-notes out of her bra, and waving them about.
Well, at least she kept them above the belt.

Perhaps it was a philosophy experiment: exercise your existential freedom to walk out of the exam now!
You all get full-marks.
You don't write nothing, we don't have to mark nothing.
Hurry everybody, we can still make happy hour!

It would appear that George Soros has been busy. I guess his duties in Europe came to an early conclusion and has now started to stir the pot elsewhere.

a reply to: halfoldman

You ask what a degree without an exam is worth? What is a test worth if the exam doesn't properly test the material?

a reply to: halfoldman

What they fail to realize is that without exams there is no proof that they have comprehended and are proficient in their knowledge of the subject(s) in question and if handed a degree without the exams it would nullify said degree as useless!

Good luck finding employment with a useless degree!

And eventually, they take out the ones who did bother to learn and shoot them ala Pol Pot and others like him.

a reply to: halfoldman

In the end, employers determine the value of a degree. They simply will not hire people from universities that just push kids out the door with heads full of mush for any job that pays well.

That's definitely a problem in the US also.

originally posted by: ketsuko
And eventually, they take out the ones who did bother to learn and shoot them ala Pol Pot and others like him.

We are much closer to that happening in the US than South Africa is.

This story is just about students not wanting to do anything. In the US we idolize anti intellectualism, and a large portion of society has decided that universities don't teach anything.

a reply to: Aazadan

When the kids in the universities don't want to learn anything or want to dictate what will and won't be learned, then those who actually have learned are in danger.

You can't demand a degree for free and then see someone who has actually earned what you didn't and not resent or hate that. We see it all the time.

Well, I suppose if you make exams optional you can make the classes optional, too.

Once nobody is learning anything the cost of the degree drops to Damn near free, right?

Sure- just start handing diplomas out at birth. Not like they've meant anything in the last twenty years anyway.

change how hard it is to get that degree ... the job market on the otherhand will still requier you to know the subjects you felt where to hard

a reply to: an325nt

It will become like a lot of high school diplomas in certain US big cities.

originally posted by: ketsuko
You can't demand a degree for free and then see someone who has actually earned what you didn't and not resent or hate that. We see it all the time.

Students wanting shortcuts is nothing new. I see it in my field all the time with coding bootcamps. They sell the dream to people who don't know any better, of a quick, dirty, and cheap way to land a high paying job. In reality they teach roughly the same amount as 1 to 2 college classes in total and charge as much as 1 and sometimes 2 years worth of university for the privilege. Then these people get marketed to companies who don't know any better, and ignorance becomes a commodity to be sold.

This is because universities don't demand enough from students. Somewhere we got it into our heads that 4 years is enough to make a person educated when it's not. Then we have a whole contingent of people who want to shorten that and claim that two year programs can fill the gap at a lower cost.

What we've got in the US though is that it's not just the students who want to coast, but the parents of those students want to discredit what is being taught. For example, one poster here brought up a few weeks back that he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that his daughter never goes to college, but that she's damn sure going to know how to hunt and skin a deer. That is a toxic mindset, it's encouraging ignorance. The parent doesn't know anything, and will in turn perpetuate the cycle by preventing his child from knowing anything. And will then complain wondering why that life experience doesn't translate into a skilled well paying profession.

a reply to: halfoldman

the removal of colonial statues from campuses

Meh

a demand for free university education

I would gladly pay more taxes for this. The more educated a society is the less chance we will hurt each other over lies and propaganda. But lets be honest. We need to fix our regular schools before spending money on collages.

as final exams loom towards the end of the year

Are large groups of students with real power calling for this or is this just a rumor....or maybe even some of that propaganda ?

Lol pretty sure a while back they complained that science was colonial imperialism haha.

Did the Wakanda hype vaporize instantly?

KILL KILL DA WHITE MAN.

When I realized how much I disliked school, I stopped going.

When I realized how powerful and enjoyable the learning experience is when it is self-directed, I began to enjoy my life anew.

Borrow from the military: train hard fight easy.

Exams may be tough, but better to have your first proving there than in front of a new employer.

originally posted by: DJMSN
It would appear that George Soros has been busy. I guess his duties in Europe came to an early conclusion and has now started to stir the pot elsewhere.

No one has deposed that PoS yet? Man, you would think that someone would find some dirt on him and put him out of our misery. Amazing how one man with so much money can taint a country so large and so patriotic as it once was.

originally posted by: DictionaryOfExcuses
When I realized how much I disliked school, I stopped going.

When I realized how powerful and enjoyable the learning experience is when it is self-directed, I began to enjoy my life anew.

I always thought college was freeing. I took what courses I liked. I didn't feel the pressure of a teacher wanting to give me marks because of my lack of homework. In college, they don't really care if you're there or not or if you do your homework or studies. They still get paid and you're just another student who will fail or pass by their own actions. I didn't feel the stress I did in high school. I very much enjoyed college.

In the end, I realized I loved partying more! lol

But no stress