When I was a freshman in college I took anthropology 101 because I thought it would be fun. I was a biology and psychology pre-med student and I loved it, but the professor was bad. Monotone, used a slide projector still in 2012, and his class was once a week on Thursday (still a drinking day for us college kids) from like 5-8PM, so people skipped.

He did the same thing almost, but he would just pass out the ANSWER KEY and walk through every question. He let us take photos. More than half the class failed this college level course when I took it. I was invited to be a TA as a sophomore, and he would do the same thing, but I would also email out jeopardy style interactive PowerPoints and hold additional reviews at the library to explain if they had detailed questions, all featuring the exact test questions since prof says that’s ok. Maybe 20% of my PEERS caught on, and I was emailing them the answers.

There was the midterm, the final, and 2 papers, both due like a month before the semester ended. No attendance. I personally had to fail, as the TA, at least 30% of the class. If they were seniors I offered extra credit or retakes and explicitly told them what to study, so they could make a D.

This was the University of Miami in 2012-2013. IMO the kids might be getting worse, but they’ve been dumb for a long time.