Doonesbury explains what college is for. Hint: not for learning!

My students know all too well that I emphasize understanding and analysis in my classes, and none of the assignments or exams is a test of their ability to memorize facts.  And, thus, they know how much I hate the bubbling-in-answers scantron approach to education, particularly at the undergraduate level.  I even allow them to use laptops and smartphones in the class--I try my best to push them beyond a simple and simplistic access to information, and get them to think about the information.

Towards the end of the last term, one student, "K," raised her her hand as we regrouped after a ten-minute break.

"Do all professors teach the way you do, or did we luck out taking your class?"

I gave her a dull boring answer because I had to ensure that I did not use the class time to critique colleagues, not only at my college but in higher education, who, even in this new world of Google and iPhone apps, think that undergraduate education is all about access to facts and testing students about those facts.

What I would have liked to tell "K" and the rest of the class, with a big grin on my face: "thanks for the compliments."

In this cartoon here, Trudeau conveys the same idea, and also the explanation that Bill Gates gave some time ago on why we have colleges anymore:

'Place-based colleges' are good for parties, but are becoming less crucial for learning thanks to the Internet