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[Xantalos]

Sorry, Frumple. Check the post.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Goddamnit, TLC. Just when I thought they couldn't get any worse...

[Frumple]

Ah. That first one's... a bit of a WTF, I guess. Still won't look, but how exactly do they get from mr. Rogers to entitled kids? I vaguely remember the show as more of a friendship/caring/positive message of Jesus sort of thing than an "I Deserve SUV" thing.

As for the second, reality TV. Dim view of that stuff, yeah. Monetizing peoples suffering, which is what most of them do, more or less, is pretty sickening.

[Megaman]

I miss Hitler

holy shit bro.

[Sirus]

Ah. That first one's... a bit of a WTF, I guess. Still won't look, but how exactly do they get from mr. Rogers to entitled kids? I vaguely remember the show as more of a friendship/caring/positive message of Jesus sort of thing than an "I Deserve SUV" thing.

It's because Mr. Rogers said that everyone was special and unique, instead of being mindless drones 

[Reelya]

@Frumple: Apparently Mr Roger's line "everyone is special" caused all American children for every generation since then to expect to get "A"s on every test, and they flip-out when given a B or C. "I deserve an 'A' because I'm special, Mr Rogers said so" i guess.

But the cited evidence is college kids mystified at getting lower grades :-
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118358476840657463.html
There's the source of FOX's claim, a professor observing the actions of freshmen college students.

There's a much simpler explanation for the same phenomena which doesn't require every kid was indoctrinated by the same TV show:

Those college kids "expect" to get A's because they were top of the class in high-school, say the top 20%. They coasted through because the material was paced so that the C students can keep up. College is filled to the brim with the 'A' students from every high school, and the work is harder, not everyone in the course can get an 'A', you now have to be in the top 20% of the previous 20% for that mark.

This leaves 80% of college kids getting worse marks than they feel they deserve.

[RedKing]

Well, except that a lot of "B" and "C" students get into college now too. Which means the material gets dumbed down, because it looks bad if you fail most of your students. That was going on even when I was in undergrad.

Welcome to the unintended consequences of decades of pushing the idea of "college for everybody". Well-intentioned, but a bad idea. Might work better if we had a more robust system of technical/vocational schools and reserved the traditional academic universities for the top students.

This is one reason why a Bachelor's degree is the new high school diploma, and a Master's Degree is the new Bachelor's.

[darkrider2]

I'm entering college in like two weeks and find this pretty disturbing.

Considering I coasted through high school without ever studying.

[Jervill]

What will your major be?  If it's soft, you won't notice.  But if it is something like engineering, then be prepared for a kick in the pants.

[Siquo]

What will your major be?  If it's soft, you won't notice.  But if it is something like engineering, then be prepared for a kick in the pants.

QFT.

[darkrider2]

What will your major be?  If it's soft, you won't notice.  But if it is something like engineering, then be prepared for a kick in the pants.

Computer Science.

My junior year of HS I was in an engineering type class (one of those tech programs) but I quit, wasn't really what I wanted and I needed to put calculus in my schedule, and damn glad I did.

I wasn't a bad student, I was in the B-C range due to just not turning stuff in but still scored really well on tests, though I suppose that isn't a good metric for college.

[Flying Dice]

You'll probably coast through most of the prereqs/University Studies stuff without even blinking; most of those courses require nothing more than missing fewer than 10 sessions and not being a complete moron to pass.

[Frumple]

Depends pretty heavily on the teacher and the class... some of them, tests are pretty much the only thing that heavily effects your grade (Though, do note: If the teacher's worth a shit, your high school test taking strategies will not work.).

Others, homework-type stuff is a significant portion of the grade, and you're screwed if you don't stay on top of it.

Regardless, staying on top of it (again, caveatted by a decent teacher, who's actually assigning stuff on the basis it'll expand your understanding of the topic) is going to seriously impact your ability to pass the classes, to say nothing of actually learning the material (tremendously more important than actually getting a good grade, t'be honest).

Though, being fair, as Dice says, most of that doesn't apply to lower level, general education stuff. Just the stuff once you're actually in your degree and working with higher level material.

[Darvi]

You'll probably coast through most of the prereqs/University Studies stuff without even blinking; most of those courses require nothing more than missing fewer than 10 sessions and not being a complete moron to pass.

I'm a complete moron and missed half a semester and still breezed through most of my exams. Well, more like half of them. Project management is hard.

[RedKing]

The vast majority of freshman/prerequisite courses aren't going to be any harder, material-wise, than anything you had in high school. The BIG adjustment is learning to cope with the freedom.

Don't feel like going to class? You don't have to!
Feel like partying up till 4am the night before a big test? You can!
Missed your semester final because you were passed out after a night of drunken debauchery? Too fucking bad, you fail!

(I speak from experience on the above points...) 

Even if you don't go off the deep end like I did, there's still the struggle of just balancing the amount of reading (which is typically a good bit heftier than in high school) and project work for all your classes. And trying to enjoy your newfound social life.

It gets steadily harder through the 4 years, but the material also gets more interesting so you're more eager to put in the extra work.
Then if you get to graduate school, it's like restarting the game on Hardcore mode. "Welcome to class, here's the syllabus, read these 300 pages by next class."