Are Professors Getting Lazy?
Universities across the country continue to increase tuition prices in the name of inflation, and despite the rising cost of tuition, there has been a disturbing trend among professors both nationally, and in our smaller college community here in Wyoming.
A major complaint heard around the university is the commonality of professors who, rather than putting in the work to ensure expertise in their subject matter, lean far too heavily on AI to automate their curriculum.
This reliance hollows out the course, effectively removing any sort of human involvement that is required to create curated and strategic content. Instead of dynamic leadership, some professors have become merely a figurehead of a course, and students are met with faculty who simply stand in front of a classroom or hall reading off of slides verbatim that were generated by AI, while simultaneously refusing the usage of AI from students themselves.
If not this, many students are finding their professors completely absent from the classroom regardless of the “in-person” status of the course that is listed prior to joining these classes.
This is extremely common in classrooms directed by tenured employees at our university. Instead, students are given video instructions that were recorded several years ago, with the same course plan and now, instruction that would be found obsolete and out-dated.
This flawed way of teaching has become common in some of UW’s most sought out programs, including the engineering program.
It is no secret that the University of Wyoming’s main appeal to not only Wyomingites, but also those seeking affordable education, are the lower-than-average tuition rates. If the university continues raising its tuition, and more and more professors turn to AI, heavy reliance on TAs and sticking to arguably out-dated teaching methods, what will attract incoming students?
It is not fair to the next generation of students to pay for frankly overpriced schooling if those in teaching roles are not dedicating their efforts to those who pay their salaries.
With that being said, this has not yet become an issue with every professor, with there still being many who do take the time to sit down, write out their course plan and encourage their students. However, this should be the bare minimum for those in teaching positions, and it is daunting to see the lack of care many professors have for their students and further, the university’s misalignment of incentives.
Is this the quality that the nationwide skyrocketing cost of tuition is now covering?
