A column penned by journalist (and Babson adjunct professor) Kara Miller has generated much conversation on Boston.com and filled my inbox with more emails than I have ever received on any one topic. Miller reportedly develops the premise of her piece, loosely captured by the title “My Lazy American Students,” from her recent experience in the classroom here at Babson. There are a few important points I’d like to make about this piece.
First, remember that this is not a fact-based article, but rather an opinion piece that appeared on the op/ed page of the print edition of the Globe. We are all entitled to our opinions and I would steadfastly defend Miller’s right to express hers. However, it is also important to remember that the views expressed are only her own and not those of the institution, the faculty as a whole, or even some recognized subset of the institution such as a division or department. As such, her personal opinions as they relate to Babson are based only on her limited and brief experience here.
The public expression of an opinion always invites debate and discussion, and I am confident that Miller would welcome this. Opinions can be shaped by experiences and facts. As experiences are shared and data is analyzed, opinions will shift and stronger arguments will be formed to support existing opinions. Certainly the experiences that have been shared in the responses to the original piece suggest that there are strong opposing views. For my part, having worked in higher education for over twenty years, it would be easy for me to produce anecdote after anecdote – and real data derived from the performance of students at Babson and elsewhere – that would illustrate the folly of ascribing the term “lazy” to any one category of students.
But this leads to the more important point that Miller’s piece raises for me. While Miller notes that, “…it would be wrong to suggest that all American students are the same,” it is apparent that she makes (and is perceived by others to be making) broad generalizations about individual students on the basis of membership in a certain group or category. That is not the way that Babson operates, and the outcry suggests that many people understand the need to treat students (people) as individuals and evaluate each on his or her own merits. Do we all often fall prey to drawing easy conclusions about others based on the few characteristics that might be readily apparent to us? I’m sure that the answer is “yes” for most of us, and Miller has succeeded in creating a spirited dialogue about the need to stay away from developing stereotypes and lumping people in categories. It may be an unintended positive consequence of the generalizations she draws in her piece, but Miller has clearly struck a nerve and helped us to engage in an important dialogue. We cannot have this dialogue enough – recognizing and reaffirming our commitment to an inclusive community will only strengthen us.
The original piece and the many resulting comments on it cannot change one irrefutable fact: Babson is one of the most diverse academic communities in this country, with dedicated students, faculty and staff who are highly motivated and driven to excellence. This is supported by fact after fact and anecdote after anecdote: highly selective admission, one of the highest percentages of international and U.S. multicultural students in the country, phenomenal success in the job market, Fulbright scholars, student service projects in all corners of the globe, and the list could go on for pages. To achieve this kind of success, we have actively sought out the best and brightest from all corners of the globe and from many different backgrounds. What we have at Babson is truly unique – one of the most diverse and talented groups of students in the world. You can’t find another group like it anywhere.
I’m fortunate to have a big picture view of Babson that is developed from the opportunity I have to get to know and work with almost every undergraduate on this campus. It is clearly not a place for lazy students – American or otherwise. It is a place where students are challenged and a place that values the diversity of opinions and experiences that individuals bring to the community. This is what makes Babson strong, exciting and thriving. While I certainly don’t agree with the conclusions reached by Miller, I’m excited to engage in the important dialogue her opinion has spurred. The dialogue will be hard work and must include the entire community, but I know we are all up to the challenge!
28 Comments
Dean Hanno,
I just want to let you know that your involvement in these issues and genuine faith in Babson’s students make Babson a much better place (or at least did for me). It inspires the kind of confidence in students that professors like Kara Miller cannot.
-Tony
I don’t know if it’s possible to agree with both you and Professor Miller, but there are aspects of both of your arguments that I concur with and some that I would respectfully disagree with.
The fact remains that as a whole, Americans are sinking into an abyss of ignorance and poor education. This is true on all levels of the educational system, no matter how you want to slice it. Granted, there are some phenomenal American students out there, absolutely. I happen to know a good number of them at Babson. But the overall trend in our country is downward, and I have seen this reflected at Babson as well. Most of my American friends have pretty poor time and sleep management, as I’ve pointed out to them. Even if I was to avoid generalizing them as “most of my friends” and still examine each one on an individual basis, this statement would still be true.
As a former homeschooler, I have perhaps a unique perspective on this issue. Personally, I believe that Kara Miller’s article — whether she intended it this way or not — isn’t an indictment of any particular individual or group of individuals, as it is a condemnation of the system that failed them. America’s school system reflects virtually nothing of the experience you get at college, from what my friends have told me. You don’t need time management skills when a bell is marking out every hour of your day. Personally, I felt that the curriculum for my first semester at Babson (I am a freshman) was time-intensive but no more challenging than what I studied during my senior year of high school. Yet I know many American students who struggled with the exact same classes I had. I fully credit the fact that I’ve never been involved in America’s school system, whether public or private, for my preparedness for college life.
So while I do agree with Miller that American students, by and large, don’t perform as well as their international counterparts, I disagree that the students themselves are solely to blame for the situation. They are products of a broken system, and I fully believe that Babson is the best place for them to learn how to compete on an international level. As you say, Babson is one of the most diverse student bodies in the world. I believe our school can and does leverage that diversity to transform these “lazy American students” into leaders of the next generation.
It’s funny, because all of this is so relevant to my current life situation. As a Babson grad and entrepreneur I’m privileged to also call myself a professor as a serve as part-time faculty at BU. Ironically I teach entrepreneurship, where I have been caught assuming all of my students would be aggressive and eager participants in my class. Unfortunately for my ego and dreams that’s not the case. In every classroom setting you have strong and weak students. It never changes. To add further detail I average 25 students and about 80% are from a foreign country. What’s changed is the generation. They have more distractions. Given my professional background I’m indirectly responsible for creating the tools that have become so disruptive. The e-mail, IMing, Facebook, texting, etc got so bad I implemented a no laptop and smartphone policy. If your laptop is open it’s for presentation purposes only and there is no justifiable reason why you need a phone on your desk. I hated doing it, because my expectations of behavior and protocol are high, but my primary expectation I have is that the student is paying attention and consuming the content and dialogue that is so vital to the course. I have to tell you it was funny seeing the looks on their faces when I said “Looks like you’re going to have to take notes the old fashioned way, with pen and paper”. It took me some time to get to that point, but it’s all about adapting and surviving. Professors get so locked into a style or worse, repetitive material year after year that some tend to forget they need to change too.
I am not a member of your university community, so I feel I owe all of you who are part of that community, including Kara Miller, (1) my support as you deal with being under the microscope and (2) my thanks for your using the opportunity presented to you to have a dialogue about community.
Dean,
So you will do what deans do in these situations.
1. Attack the professor as someone prone to making “broad generalizations about individual students on the basis of membership in a certain group or category” and not in any way epitomizing the outstanding academic staff at Babson;
2. Prohibit the professor from every again teaching at Babson;
3. Contact your peers at other institutions and make sure that they blacklist the professor in question;
4. Announce that the board has developed a special Blue Ribbon, Bipartisan Commission featuring some of the most successful graduates of (who are now the most generous donors to) Babson to conduct a thorough investigation of the matter;
5. Release the results of the thorough investigation entitled, “Academic Performance and Progress at Babson from Macro and Micro Perspectives in Relation to the Developing 21st Century Globalization and Economic Growth,” on the day after 2010 commencement exercises;
6. Leak the results of the aforementioned report for publication on graduation day to The Wall Street Journal, Milken Institute, Boston Herald, and The Jerusalem Post;
7. Hire a D.C. lobby firm (beyond those already on the payroll) to secure more federal and Bay State funding for the Babson curriculum (and the sale of your current residence for relocation to a more suitable abode – See Boss Shirley at RPI in Troy for more details on this process);
8. Appear on Fox News, This Week with George Will, and Emily Rooney’s Pantheon to Nepotism and Inadequacy at WGBH to present your position before a sympathetic audience;
9. Announce in August that the board, due to the slow economic recovery, has increase tuition by 12 percent – and dismissed 89 non-tenured professors – for the upcoming academic year; and,
10. Give yourself a 14 percent raise with additional perks in your Golden Parachute severance package, complete with offshore banking in the Cayman Isles away from all of those pesky IRS auditors, media types, and bothersome profs.
You have my email. Contact me when you wish to spin each and every step of the process.
If I know Dean Hanno and the students of Babson (which I think I do…), I know that they will use this opportunity to continue to prove Kara Miller and the stereotypes of generation X wrong with self reflection and hard work. Yes, I have memories of situations that Kara Miller described from my freshman year at Babson. But through those experiences (and the resulting grades…), I learned how much hard work it takes to succeed. Thank you, Dean Hanno, for your unwavering dedication to Babson and providing the workplace and world with well-rounded graduates who value hard work as well as their communities.
Unfortunately, it’s easier for a dean to attack a professor who speaks out rather than really take stock of what is being observed by someone in the trenches. The fact is, tuition drives the desire to allow students to stay in school, and the college rankings become enablers by stressing “retention rate” at all costs. 25 students on a school bus equals $1 million in annual revenue for the college.
When you ask many college students (Babson and elsewhere) what the “product” is they’re paying for, it’s often the following: Good times, first heavy experiences with substance abuse, first romances, first time being where no one can tell you what to do. The academics is often the “price one has to pay,” even among good students.
As someone who teaches college, everything Ms. Miller says rings true. Generalization from observations might be considered a hypothesis by some, worth exploring. This dean’s “careful refutation” simply muddies the issue back to where inaction and status quo are the order of the day. Dean Hanno, you could have taken the issue by the horns. Instead, you fall back into the same kind of death-by-nitpicking that sends so many worthy ideas to a quick demise.
As a graduate of Babson from 1990 and having taught at the collegiate level in both the US and abroad (Asia specifically), I have to agree to some extent to what Professor Miller is stating. And knowing that Babson has always had a large international contingent to broaden the understanding of the students, I can understand her experience being a bit of tunnel vision.
First, I applaud her for bringing out one of the most important issues that the US is facing: the continued falling back on the level of education in the world.
I personally, having graduated in 1990, felt fully prepared by Babson when I stepped into the work world. I exceeded and rose quickly to the position of Controller only 1.5 years out of college. When I moved to Asia, I felt like I found home with so many people having the same ethics and drive I had from college.
However, when I began teaching at the undergraduate level, my expectations were constantly tested as I saw some of the same things that Professor Miller talks about. I saw it in some of my students, but it really seemed more common in those from the US and Europe.
What I saw were a lack of time management; an expectation to be spoon fed the hard issues of analysis and thoughtful understanding of a subject; and a difficulty in handing the stress of managing projects and classes at the same time.
I would not speculate that it is all American’s or Europeans, but it was certainly those in my accounting classes that I taught. What made it even more difficult was my desire to balance the importance of pushing my students to excel and prepare them, as I had been prepared and giving them help to just pass the course. It made for some tough times for me when teaching because I understood the big picture and wanted them to feel the same. But they did not.
There may be other issues to in that those that go abroad are doing so to enjoy the experience of being there as opposed to learning the subjects. They could also see that the experience in the dorm was much more importance than those in the classroom, which makes for a difficult battle between professor desires and student expectations.
In any case, I see Professor Miller’s and can understand her generalization to all.
I personally lived through the tough academic program that Babson had. I went from a person being in the top 3% of my class to one in the middle, which was tough. Everyone I went to school with was from the top of their class. My professors are still people I contact and respect dearly for their insight and guidance. And the program now is something I wish we had in place when I was there back in the late 80′s.
With the selectivity it holds today, I am sure there is still a measured level of difficulty demanded by the outstanding and highly credentialed faculty. It just may be that Professor Miller is experiencing those that are not grasping a full understanding of the importance of every course that is taught there as it fits into the big picture.
Roger Babson had it right a long time ago: that in order to be a well rounded, successful business person, you must be able to read, be well read, write and think analytically. It may be that those that are taking a course that is not obviously part of a business curriculum found at most colleges or universities think that it is less important than Accounting or Strategy. The reality, her course is probably more important in that it provides the foundation for thought and understanding of the big picture and depth that is needed for those later business courses.
Also, thanks again Dean Hanno for defending the college, when in reality, there was no need to do so. And bravo for allowing a professor such as Professor Miller state something that people want to talk about.
As a graduate, I am proof that the curriculum, the depth of the courses and programs do stand the test of time and build successful business people like me.
Traei Purtee, Babson College Alum, Graduate 1990 – BS in Accounting and Entrepreneurial Studies
Dear Dean:
I skipped Prof. Miller’s original story but eventually read it because I caught sight of the follow up piece.
I have no opinion on the matter. There are enough of them already from more thoughtful people.
I just want to plug my cure for the common cold. It really works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UVHeULP1JA
Kara Miller made a simple, common error. Her observation is based on a skewed tiny sample of foreign students. Her class like many others is populated with more or less (statistically) average American college students. But the foreign students are by no means average in the context of their own country. Only the best (or near best) foreign students have the opportunity, means, motivation and educational attainment to come to the US to study. Therefore, they tend to stand out in a class of ordinary American students.
At places like MIT or other top institutions of learning, where all of the students are outstanding, the foreign students blend into the distribution.
In reality, every country has its share of bright and not-so-bright students. Babson has nothing to be ashamed of, but as a nation we would certainly be better off if we could elevated what passes for average in universities today.
I personally liked Ms Miller’s article .It is a wake up call, but not only for Americans. She is of course generalizing and Dean Hanno points that out .Dean Hanno is by far one of the most dedicated towards education persons one can meet and the silly comments above from Mark are pathetic.
I think that Ms Miller comment just reflects the desperation that most teachers ALL AROUND THE WORLD feel towards the “slowly drifting towards mediocrity” syndrome that the academic world is going through. I think the answer to that is to try to instill if possible a sense of excellence, whatever that is supposed to mean, in students . This is not only American :”The World is Flat” and mediocrity seeps everywhere (the foreign students that Ms Miller refers to are the cream of their crop, her statistical sample is biased, even inside Babson).Why? Because young boys and girls have, consciously or not , a somewhat negative view of their future and it reflects on their approach to studies (” the what’s the use of my studies? syndrome”).What students need are someone that will lead and inspire them: it has to be one of their teachers , maybe one of their peers. Lacking that, they will oversleep after having wasted their time partying or in the virtual world of the Xbox.
The premise of Kara Miller initial article is false; comparing American students with non-American students not a viable exercise because of course American students will fail to meet any objective measures of college preparedness and work ethic. American students are a product of American society; geared to short-cuts, minimial effort for maximum reward, manipulation and complaining to get what they want; a high grade. Most American students believe “I paid the tuition, give me an A.”
Kara Miller is some super innocent adjunct if she even remotely expects American students to another thing other than under achieving short-cutters.
The original title by Professor Miller is “America’s Work Deficit”. It was later changed to “My Lazy American Students” by Globe editors. It would be really nice if Dean Hanno would refer to Prof.Miller in his piece as Professor, Ms./Mrs. or like in front of her last name.
2Mark: Great sense of humor, but you are right on the money!
“Another View” hit the nail on the head. It’s rather disappointing that nobody else (including the author of the article and the dean in response) seemed to realize the severe biases involved.
America has nearly 5,000 colleges and universities. If you grow up in a middle class or wealthier environment the expectation is often that you’ll go on to higher learning, whether you’re cut out for it or not. If you aren’t, no problem! There’s a university for everyone. Not so for foreign students. There is likely a significant differential in selectivity.
It’s no wonder that the mean is pulled down and compares unfavourably with other nations that have fewer university spots and must strictly filter their brightest and highest achievers. The US puts inordinate value on having a degree, but the simple fact is that the majority of students benefit very little from university strictly because they are not amenable to higher education to begin with. We send them anyway and it makes us look stupid when compared to the best and brightest imports.
I am sick of ill-reasoned and, more importantly, wholly unsubstantiated claims of the superiority or inferiority of students based on their background. Go to MIT and tell me that American students there are lazy. Travel to the foreign lands that these Wunderstudenten harken from and tell me that their society is any more or less lazy than our own. America has many social ills and misplaced values, but I suspect they’re far more human and far less American than we tend to believe.
Kindly come back to us with facts and substantiation. You are supposedly academics, after all.
I read Kara Miller’s original opinion piece and her followup, and I’m amazed that even in her followup, she seems completely unaware of the most obvious flaw in her logic: What if she’s not seeing the difference between American students and other country’s students, but rather the difference between students who go to school locally vs. those who would travel to a foreign country for college? What if the best students from other countries are the ones most likely to attempt to go to college in the US, and the ones most able to do so (because we’re more likely to allow them in, or because their communities are more likely to support them, or other reasons) ?
To me this seems like the most obvious explanation, one that I would try to disprove before jumping to any other conclusions. Yet she didn’t even hint at it in her first piece, and very briefly and dismissively referred to it in her followup, as if it is an unimportant tangential point, when it really strikes at the core of her claims.
Based on this, I find myself highly doubting Kara Miller’s ability to reason, and do not trust her conclusions.
I have been teaching at the college level for 27 years and completely support Kara Miller’s observations. I have seen a continuing degradation of work ethic, failure to submit assignments in a timely manner, increased failure to show up for exams on the date given, poor math skills, increased levels of absenteeism and increased drops from class. This is more than just laziness, it is a cultural phenomenon which, unless reversed, does not bode well for the future of our country. Less than 50% of the students in my classes are what I would describe as serious students. I have discussed this problem with other faculty members and they have had the same observation. I often wonder how some of the students I have in my classes will ever succeed in life. The college at which I teach is in a relatively affluent area with what is considered to have some of the best K-12 school districts in the country.
What appalled me about Prof. Miller’s column was her total lack of enforcement of classroom discipline. She allows students to do “sly” things as though unnoticed, even letting one student sleep in class. It is her responsibility to throw those inattentive and disruptive drones out of the classroom for not meeting the minimum standards of attention and decorum.
I find it troubling that the dean of a college doesn’t know the difference between an editorial and a column.
I’ve spent more than 20 years teaching the same Babson students as Prof. Miller. There’s a ring of truth to her observations, but I don’t ascribe the work ethic to any particular nationality. Students come to college with a wide range of skill and preparation. They come with many different values, some sourced in culture and some in family background. It’s our job, as teachers of first-year college students, to teach students the appropriate kinds of behavior that will help them succeed in their lives, communities, and careers. The working world is facing many of the same problems we are-Blackberries and IM in business meetings, missed deadlines, and sick leave used for personal purposes. Our job is to help student develop their work ethic and work habits. We have to lead by example, by gentle nudging, and if those fail, by exposing students to consequences for their choices.
I also just want to add that another part of my job is to engage my students, to make them want to learn. When they’re challenged and engaged, they come to class, participate, and produce some really good work. This can be tough for students in first-year required courses, but if we do what we should, we set the tone for the rest of their college experience.
Finally, those who anticipate dire consequences for Prof. Miller are full of it. It’s the cynicism of the Marks of the world that is destructive, not the speaking out. Perhaps Mark should take the time to get to know our Babson community before he trashes us.
Thanks for a reasoned response based on your broad experience at Babson. The popularity of the original column spoke as much to what people want to believe as to the writer’s opinion.
Almost 30 years after receiving my graduate degree from Babson, I continue to admire the ambition and achievement of its students and the school’s effort to create a diverse academic environment. I’ve had plenty of contact with other colleges, including those attended by my children, and Babson is in a class by itself.
I can’t directly address student motivation, but their record of continuing achievement shows that any lazy students get nudged aside by the motivated majority.
As a non-Babson student (though a graduate student at a Boston university) I do wonder why Dean Hanno felt the need to defend Babson College when Professor Miller’s column was addressing a larger problem within American academics, choosing to cite personal experiences from Babson.
This rush to defend the system only seems to reinforce the ignorance and complacency for low standards within today’s classrooms.
Of course, a dean must respond to the criticism that the college is receiving about this. What Mr. Hanno does here is politically smart. No official wants his school to appear as if “lazy” students attend there. But it is also important not to be in denial. There are motivated students and less motivated students everywhere, even Harvard. (Consider GW Bush at Yale.) Anecdotes and generalizations can offer good opportunities for reflection. Every school can use this opportunity. However this may or may not get resolved, if the oped writer and adjunct loses her job over this, I would love to read about the eventual lawsuit.
Dean Hanno – Glad to see Babson still doesn’t support their professors or free speech for that matter. I am sure you would have said it was hate speech if it was any other group other than Americans.
The Americans did slack while I was at Babson and still do…we were having a good time rather than cracking the books. Ms. Miller is correct when she says it appears that the “American students are lazy”. Where there is smoke there is fire Dean Hanno. And the standards aren’t set very high these days for students as they think they are entitled to everything without work. You may want to start correcting that mind set.
Mike Muccio, undergrad class of 2004
“Finally, those who anticipate dire consequences for Prof. Miller are full of it. It’s the cynicism of the Marks of the world that is destructive, not the speaking out. Perhaps Mark should take the time to get to know our Babson community before he trashes us.”
Carolyn Dear,
I know bureaucracy and Babson is a bureaucracy. All schools and businesses exist amid the bureaucracy, which is more prevalent than the air you breathe and more powerful than even the most brilliant forms and expressions of independent thought.
If Ms. Miller lacks tenure, she will pay for her comments.
If Ms. Miller has tenure, she will pay for her comments – most likely through the loss of perks and office and/or parking space and find her schedule filled with 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. classes.
This will not happen immediately. The top bureaucrats may be wedded to the chain of command, but their deviousness and patience knows few bounds.
When it happens, you will remain silent. You, like the others, value your position and its benefits. You know how to play the game. Your post above clearly indicates your knowledge.
But you and I can define the end result. I’m just willing to admit it openly. You, of course, are not.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Dear Mark,
You obviously don’t know me. I am rarely accused of staying silent in the face of bureaucratic malevolence. And you certainly don’t know Dean Hanno or Babson. We have an unusual culture for an academic institution, and we take a lot of pride in it. We all take our turns at unpopular class times, and there are no reserved parking spaces-all the faculty and staff share the same lots, first come, first served. We are not BU, Harvard, or lots of other places people know as educational bureaucracies. We try very hard to treat our faculty, staff and students with respect, even when we disagree with them. Prof. Miller’s remarks create a good learning opportunity for all of us. We (and I don’t just mean Babson) need to be having an ongoing discussion about distracted students. Their education is mighty expensive and mighty important-students deserve our full attention and we deserve their full attention. That’s the discussion we need to have.
Happy New Year to you too, Mark. Come pay us a visit-if you promise to pay attention, you may sit in on one of my classes and see the place for yourself.
Obviously Mark is some sort of Prophet .Instead of writing anonymously , which gives him the opporunity to take some frustrations out, maybe he should tell us where he preaches, so we can all benefit from his prescience to improve and anticipate our world.Or maybe he is a scenario writer for B movies, in which case his “rhetoric” is not bad.
No prophet here, p.
Just seen it before. Low-level staffer speaks or writes the truth. Bosses scramble in a flurry of pseudo-activity all the while maintaining that there’s nothing to see here, no problem, no sirree, Bob, and a side of fries.
The higher-ups create the committee. The committee establishes the subcommittee. Staffers design new a new letterhead with a catchy logo for the stationery. The lobbying firm gets the call and the dinero. The story is spoon- (or 120-proof bottle-) fed to the synergy scribe or pundit, the “established” person with the once-glowing, now-barely-maintaining credentials – and the $5,000-per-appearance wardrobe – to sculpt the tale for the “establishment” and the powers (and money) that be.
Order is returned. Donations quietly find their way to the school’s coffers. The endowment grows. Derivative investments follow. New steel and concrete signal a “fresh start” and offer the facade on which the reputations are freshened and the names remembered. All is well.
Then, some 19-year-old comes along and, like, like, pukes a like, ton, of last night’s binge on the building’s front steps before collapsing in a veritable heap.
Upon being revived, said student, after calling Mommy on his/her/its hand-held communications device to acquire chicken soup, another plastic card, and relief from the general suffering of an 8 a.m. class, tells the school official. “I feel good (sic), man! Where’s the, like, party? And how come, like, I didn’t, like make the Dean’s List?”
p, love your name. Very stylish. Tells so much about you. So much.
Happy New Year.
No prophet indeed . But series B writer for sure . Sorry , my mistake.
Keep writing please.