this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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I don't know how you extrapolate "no emphasis on learning" from "large classes". The classes are large because they can afford to be large. They teach introductory courses, and their goal is to even out the baseline before the students go into sophomore courses. Freshmen come from many different education systems - private vs public, local vs out of state/province/country, fresh out of school vs returning to education after working, etc. This is also why these courses can be graded with standardized testing, because they set the standard themselves.
Not to mention that the "more and better teachers" mantra should be applied all the way down to primary education.
Unfortunately our societies prioritise these things differently.
I believe you're 100% right. I didn't attend many, probably most, of my lectures as they're completely useless for me - I simply don't learn well from listening and frantically taking notes. It was much faster and more effective to read the material and interact with it in some way, usually rewording and condensing it into a study guide. The few classes I did attend either had mandatory attendance, so I just ignored the lecture and did my own thing during that time, or the class was significantly interactive so I actually learned from it.
When I did my undergrad the core modules had upwards of 400 people in them, never had a single multiple choice test in my entire degree. Thats a choice not a neccessity.