College Misery is running this curious questionnaire on the state of higher education in the US.
What’s wrong with the current crop of undergrad students?
They were let down by the broken-down system of secondary education that prepares them for nothing but stupid multiple choice tests and by irresponsible, lazy parents who don’t want to invest any time or effort into helping their children develop.
What’s wrong with the current state of higher education in America?
Colleges have to sacrifice too much time, resources, money, and effort to conduct the remedial learning of barely literate students. This is the root of every problem in the American higher education system.
What could regular faculty do locally to improve things?
Come up with inventive ways to ensure that the remedial learning doesn’t substitute the college education entirely. For instance, one can do remedial stuff in the Freshman year but stop doing it after that.
What could part-time faculty do to not only improve their working conditions, but also the fate of our students?
Get organized, form a union. We have a labor union for contingent workers at our university, and it is a great asset to them.
Clarissa's Blog 
My perception is that students have been getting somewhat stronger, intellectually, over the years. This does not mean that they are more motivated than their predecessors. It may be that this requires a year off after high school to recharge ones psyche for a lot of students. The new health care law may help, with young people being able to stay on their parents health insurance for a longer time.
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Good answers!
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