A “Vision of Students” is a vision of whiners…

If there is one thing that I cannot stand to deal with in fellow human beings it is this: the never-ending victim syndrome. You know those people, the ones who like to go on and on about their problems and their troubles without ever really looking for a practical solution. Those people who seem to thrive upon the attention that they are given when others listen to how tough everything is for them. Those individuals who whine about how their struggles – even the struggles that appear to be direct consequences of their actions – have been inflicted upon them by others. At some point, it just comes down to this: find a solution to the problem, find a way out of the situation or just shut up. Period.

Despite my opinion on the needlessness of YouTube.com, I was recently asked to watch a video entitled “A Vision of Students Today.” (Check it out here) The video, supposedly made by a teacher and a group of students at Kansas State University (but who can be sure?), surveyed at least 200 college students and then compiled their opinions on the classroom environment and learning experience. The video, which is filmed in its entirety in a lecture-style classroom, starts out with statements like “If these walls could talk…” and “What are they learning sitting here?” But rather than making me focus on the level of education truly being given to today’s university students in the United States, it simply pointed out the blatant victim mentality that so many young people seem to be grasping onto these days. Excuse me while I plug my ears. Or in this case, cover my eyes. I just can’t take it anymore.

One student held up a paper that said that she (or those surveyed) completes 49 percent of the reading assigned to her. And then another student showed a laptop screen that read “I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open.” Now I as a college student can understand that textbooks are expensive and seem to be getting more expensive by the semester. And I can relate to the random class in which an expensive book is rarely used. But am I supposed to feel bad when seeing that some students complete 49 percent of the reading assigned to them? That is there choice. Their prerogative. If they truly wanted to get their money out of the books they had purchased than they would have read that which was assigned to them. Period.

And sure, I get that college students are busy. But really, does being busy stop after graduation? No. It’s life. Get used to it. And those in the video who indirectly complain about being too busy to do their assignments will certainly get no sympathy from me when holding up papers that say “I read 8 books a year and 2,300 web pages” and “I Facebook through most of my classes.” That is nothing more than poor time management. Perhaps you should put down the mouse and pick up a required text a little more often. And if your class is so easy that you have time to Facebook through the entire lecture, maybe you could use that time to do something productive on your laptop. Oh, buy wait, I bet those time management skills that you are lacking can be directly traced to an incompetent elementary or high school teacher, right? Heaven forbid it be your fault!

So while these above comments were enough to make me growl with frustration, it was this next section that really got my blood boiling. One student held up a paper that said, “Over 1 billion people make less than $1 a day.” Then another, when referring to jobs, held up a scantron that said, “Filling out one of these won’t help me get there...” And then another held up a page that said, “I did not create the problems, but they are my problems.” Who are you trying to fool? Seriously. If you want to talk about the distribution of wealth, than making a comment about poor wages around the world is a valid point. But please, tell me how it is relevant to this survey. And sure, when you fail the tests that you take on scantrons, they surely will not help you in the future. But if you read, study and pay attention in class, perhaps you would find some sort of relevance in those tiny pencil-filled bubbles. And finally, am I really suppose to buy the idea that all of these problems were created by someone else? Get over yourself. And get over being the victim.

It’s about time that people stop whining about their circumstances and do something to change them. Don’t expect me – or anyone else for that matter – to feel sorry for the fact that you have the opportunity to study and earn a degree. Either take advantage of the opportunity that you are given, or leave. I am willing to bet that any one of those billion workers currently receiving less than $1 a day would be more than happy to take your place. And they would do their assigned reading…