many students struggle every day many
students struggle through the field and
struggle to do their work mainly the
main ideas we have problems with
students trying to understand and meet
their requirements for education so many
students struggle and try to understand
the different areas in transportation
and the main things that I try to
understand here is what is the main
reason for this struggle and the first
thing that came up to my mind is maybe
the material that we give to the
students it’s not good enough to help
them prepare for the job market
but we use the best material available
in the world we use the best books who
use the best teaching methods and we
improve our courses on a regular basis
then I start thinking maybe our
facilities are not good enough to help
the students prepare for the job market
but again we have the best facilities in
the world we have the best classrooms we
have the best labs the best equipment
the best software and we have funds to
buy anything the students need then I
start thinking about our students maybe
our students are not smart enough to
prepare themselves and understand in the
job market but I deal with our students
on a day-to-day basis I find them
extremely smart I found them as smart as
any other student in any other country
if not smarter then I thought maybe
they’re smart but they’re not motivated
to learn the material but again I work
with them on a day to day basis
I find them extremely smart very
hardworking very competitive among them
and that will fight for every single
point so where is the problem then
why do we have this gap between
education and the job market and after a
lot of thinking I come up with the
conclusion that the problem is in the
way our students think about the
education process our students have
different goals from the education
process other than preparing themselves
for the job market let me tell you the
top three goals for the students the
first and most important goal for the
students is the degree the degree itself
the students want to go through this
process finish this process and have the
degree if I can have the degree in my
hands everything is going to be fine
the second goal for the students is how
can I get this degree with the maximum
possible GPA if I can have the degree
with the high GPA I’m gonna be really
successful then the third goal for the
students is how can I get this degree
with the maximum possible GPA and the
minimum possible effort if I can have
the degree high GPA minimum effort that
would be the best and I call these three
goals
the fake education goes compared to real
education or the main goal for the
students should be to prepare themselves
for the job market so the first question
you want to ask me is how did you come
up with this conclusion they have any
proof let me give you some examples do
you know how students select their
courses if a student has to select one
of four courses if you really want to
know all you have to do is you guys just
go on Facebook or Twitter or one of
these websites that the students use to
share information and you will see this
very famous question I have to take one
of these four courses would you please
tell me which one is
the easiest I will not ask for the best
course that will not ask for the most
useful course they will not ask for the
course that’s going to help them after
they graduate but they will ask for the
easiest course why the easiest course
because this is the course that’s going
to help them to achieve their goals this
is the goals that’s going to help them
to achieve the fake education goals
degree maximum GPA a minimum effort what
if a student has to take a specific
course then you will see this other
famous question I have to take this
course but it is offered by Professor X
professor Y and professor Z would you
please tell me which one is easier I
will not ask for which one teaches
better which one is going to help me
understand the material which one is
going to help me like the material but
they will ask for the easier the first
question I receive on the first day of
class is it easy to get a good grade in
this course I would not ask me what is
this course about what are we supposed
to learn this semester how this course
is going to help me in the future but
don’t ask about the grades the second
question on the first day of class if I
am one or two points away from the next
grade would you increase my score to
move me from one grade to the next so
everything is around the fake education
goals so the next question you want to
ask me is what exactly is the problem
here the students are aiming for that
degree the students are aiming for the
high GPA these are all great goals where
is the problem let me tell you how this
process works at the beginning of every
semester the students will start
motivated energized and ready to learn
then we start feeding the students with
information a week after a week a week
after a week and the students will learn
the
material will study for their quizzes
will study for their exams and do their
homeworks their work on their projects
until the end of the semester by the end
of the semester their brain is full with
information and then it’s time for the
final exam and when it’s time for the
final exam the students will even work
harder they will study hard that will
not sleep they will come and ask
questions they want to really finish
strong then they go through the final
exam and once they go through the final
exam for then mission accomplished for
them they are done with this information
for them this material is not needed
anymore
so with their brain phone that will open
the valves and then we release this
information out I even see students
right after the final exam that will
leave their textbooks on the tables and
leave these textbooks that are full with
information forward highlights formal
underlined forward notes are not needed
anymore
then they keep repeating this process a
semester after a semester a semester
after semester fill their brain with
information then release it at the end
of the semester film release film
release until they go through the whole
process until they finish the process
until they achieve their goals they have
the degree and they have the high GPA
and now it’s time for Phase two now it’s
time for success now it’s time for the
job market and at this time then when
this when they start doing interviews or
if they’re really lucky that will start
their first job and only then they find
out that they need way more than the
degree in the GP in order only then they
find out that they need more skills
then they find out that they need the
information unfortunately they don’t
have it not because they didn’t learn it
but because they did not retain it and
this is where the problem is and this is
where the gap is between education and
the job market so the last question is
what can we do about it I believe we as
instructors we can help the students
with two things the first and most
important thing is that we need to talk
about this problem we need to explain to
the students what is fake education we
need to explain to the students the
difference between fake education and
real education and we need to explain to
the students the consequences of fake
education and we need to give them
advice and I would like to start with
myself here today I would like to give
our students some advice what I really
want to tell them is there is nothing
wrong nothing wrong at all with aiming
for the degree and aiming for the high
GPA but what I really want to tell you
is that these goals are not enough at
all especially in this very competitive
world these are great short-term goals
but will really hurt you on the long
term you’re gonna need way more goals
than this if you really want to succeed
you’re gonna need to learn your material
learn how to use a software learn how to
use a piece of equipment learn how to
write a good report learn how to do a
good presentation you need to volunteer
you need to work on research you need to
work part-time and even have to work for
free if you have to you just have to
make sure to gain some skills during the
process because believe me these skills
are way more important than a high GPA
for any company and this is why until
today we still see companies that are
willing
to pay two times and three times the
salary of a local person to bring
someone from another country to move
here to do the job not because they’re
smarter than you not because they’re
more motivated than you but because they
have more Skills than you to make sure
to gain some skills during this process
the second thing that we can do as
instructors we need to connect our
students more with real life we need to
explain to them how this material can be
used in real life we need to give them
real-life examples we need to give them
real-life homeworks we need to give them
real-life projects we need to take them
to the fields we need to take them to
visit companies we need to invite
professionals to our classrooms and we
need to do all these things in all our
courses we should not wait for the last
year to do these things we should not
wait for the graduation project we
should not wait for the practical
training we need to do all these things
in all our courses and from day one I
believe if we do these two things we can
move many students from fake education
to real education thank you
[Applause]
students struggle through the field and
struggle to do their work mainly the
main ideas we have problems with
students trying to understand and meet
their requirements for education so many
students struggle and try to understand
the different areas in transportation
and the main things that I try to
understand here is what is the main
reason for this struggle and the first
thing that came up to my mind is maybe
the material that we give to the
students it’s not good enough to help
them prepare for the job market
but we use the best material available
in the world we use the best books who
use the best teaching methods and we
improve our courses on a regular basis
then I start thinking maybe our
facilities are not good enough to help
the students prepare for the job market
but again we have the best facilities in
the world we have the best classrooms we
have the best labs the best equipment
the best software and we have funds to
buy anything the students need then I
start thinking about our students maybe
our students are not smart enough to
prepare themselves and understand in the
job market but I deal with our students
on a day-to-day basis I find them
extremely smart I found them as smart as
any other student in any other country
if not smarter then I thought maybe
they’re smart but they’re not motivated
to learn the material but again I work
with them on a day to day basis
I find them extremely smart very
hardworking very competitive among them
and that will fight for every single
point so where is the problem then
why do we have this gap between
education and the job market and after a
lot of thinking I come up with the
conclusion that the problem is in the
way our students think about the
education process our students have
different goals from the education
process other than preparing themselves
for the job market let me tell you the
top three goals for the students the
first and most important goal for the
students is the degree the degree itself
the students want to go through this
process finish this process and have the
degree if I can have the degree in my
hands everything is going to be fine
the second goal for the students is how
can I get this degree with the maximum
possible GPA if I can have the degree
with the high GPA I’m gonna be really
successful then the third goal for the
students is how can I get this degree
with the maximum possible GPA and the
minimum possible effort if I can have
the degree high GPA minimum effort that
would be the best and I call these three
goals
the fake education goes compared to real
education or the main goal for the
students should be to prepare themselves
for the job market so the first question
you want to ask me is how did you come
up with this conclusion they have any
proof let me give you some examples do
you know how students select their
courses if a student has to select one
of four courses if you really want to
know all you have to do is you guys just
go on Facebook or Twitter or one of
these websites that the students use to
share information and you will see this
very famous question I have to take one
of these four courses would you please
tell me which one is
the easiest I will not ask for the best
course that will not ask for the most
useful course they will not ask for the
course that’s going to help them after
they graduate but they will ask for the
easiest course why the easiest course
because this is the course that’s going
to help them to achieve their goals this
is the goals that’s going to help them
to achieve the fake education goals
degree maximum GPA a minimum effort what
if a student has to take a specific
course then you will see this other
famous question I have to take this
course but it is offered by Professor X
professor Y and professor Z would you
please tell me which one is easier I
will not ask for which one teaches
better which one is going to help me
understand the material which one is
going to help me like the material but
they will ask for the easier the first
question I receive on the first day of
class is it easy to get a good grade in
this course I would not ask me what is
this course about what are we supposed
to learn this semester how this course
is going to help me in the future but
don’t ask about the grades the second
question on the first day of class if I
am one or two points away from the next
grade would you increase my score to
move me from one grade to the next so
everything is around the fake education
goals so the next question you want to
ask me is what exactly is the problem
here the students are aiming for that
degree the students are aiming for the
high GPA these are all great goals where
is the problem let me tell you how this
process works at the beginning of every
semester the students will start
motivated energized and ready to learn
then we start feeding the students with
information a week after a week a week
after a week and the students will learn
the
material will study for their quizzes
will study for their exams and do their
homeworks their work on their projects
until the end of the semester by the end
of the semester their brain is full with
information and then it’s time for the
final exam and when it’s time for the
final exam the students will even work
harder they will study hard that will
not sleep they will come and ask
questions they want to really finish
strong then they go through the final
exam and once they go through the final
exam for then mission accomplished for
them they are done with this information
for them this material is not needed
anymore
so with their brain phone that will open
the valves and then we release this
information out I even see students
right after the final exam that will
leave their textbooks on the tables and
leave these textbooks that are full with
information forward highlights formal
underlined forward notes are not needed
anymore
then they keep repeating this process a
semester after a semester a semester
after semester fill their brain with
information then release it at the end
of the semester film release film
release until they go through the whole
process until they finish the process
until they achieve their goals they have
the degree and they have the high GPA
and now it’s time for Phase two now it’s
time for success now it’s time for the
job market and at this time then when
this when they start doing interviews or
if they’re really lucky that will start
their first job and only then they find
out that they need way more than the
degree in the GP in order only then they
find out that they need more skills
then they find out that they need the
information unfortunately they don’t
have it not because they didn’t learn it
but because they did not retain it and
this is where the problem is and this is
where the gap is between education and
the job market so the last question is
what can we do about it I believe we as
instructors we can help the students
with two things the first and most
important thing is that we need to talk
about this problem we need to explain to
the students what is fake education we
need to explain to the students the
difference between fake education and
real education and we need to explain to
the students the consequences of fake
education and we need to give them
advice and I would like to start with
myself here today I would like to give
our students some advice what I really
want to tell them is there is nothing
wrong nothing wrong at all with aiming
for the degree and aiming for the high
GPA but what I really want to tell you
is that these goals are not enough at
all especially in this very competitive
world these are great short-term goals
but will really hurt you on the long
term you’re gonna need way more goals
than this if you really want to succeed
you’re gonna need to learn your material
learn how to use a software learn how to
use a piece of equipment learn how to
write a good report learn how to do a
good presentation you need to volunteer
you need to work on research you need to
work part-time and even have to work for
free if you have to you just have to
make sure to gain some skills during the
process because believe me these skills
are way more important than a high GPA
for any company and this is why until
today we still see companies that are
willing
to pay two times and three times the
salary of a local person to bring
someone from another country to move
here to do the job not because they’re
smarter than you not because they’re
more motivated than you but because they
have more Skills than you to make sure
to gain some skills during this process
the second thing that we can do as
instructors we need to connect our
students more with real life we need to
explain to them how this material can be
used in real life we need to give them
real-life examples we need to give them
real-life homeworks we need to give them
real-life projects we need to take them
to the fields we need to take them to
visit companies we need to invite
professionals to our classrooms and we
need to do all these things in all our
courses we should not wait for the last
year to do these things we should not
wait for the graduation project we
should not wait for the practical
training we need to do all these things
in all our courses and from day one I
believe if we do these two things we can
move many students from fake education
to real education thank you
[Applause]
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