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What The Best College Students Do (2012)

by Ken Bain(Favorite Author)

3.84 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0674066642 (ISBN13: 9780674066649)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Belknap Press

review 1: I read this book as a faculty member in a college of education and as the parent of a college student. It offered great insight into learning. While the anecdotal stories were enlightening, they were not of your typical students. I still advise a reading of this book because there are many points to ponder that will help one as a teacher or parent wanting to provide students with a better educational experience.
review 2: As a student entering college as a freshman this fall, I felt the book was very encouraging, although not exactly insightful. The book's main argument focused on what it meant to be a "deep learner" versus a "strategic learner". Personally, I felt in an ideal world a student must be a blend of the two. I didn't like that Ken Bain rejected the ... moreidea that students should be focusing on grades. Grades should reflect if you've done the work, shouldn't they? And if a student completely reject their grades and simply "follows their curiosity", wouldn't that land them an F in the course? In life, you are sometimes forced to do things you don't like. Sometimes you will not want to do your readings because it's a textbook and it's boring and you don't find the course particularly enlightening. Should I not do it and read something else that I want to? Or should I do the course work and power through the boring parts? I felt a lack of balance in his argument. I also feel that in order to get A's, you almost have to be a deep learner- but not a learner that reject his studies just because it doesn't interest him. However, I did enjoy all the personal narratives and stories throughout the book highlighting some of his different subjects, as well as the overall advice he offered for enjoying college classes for the pure fact that you get to embark on the educational journey of a lifetime for the next four years. It was a confirming and pressure-reducing read. The total of the book's advice in a sentence: It's not all about getting a job and getting high marks, and things will work out just fine if you do the work thoughtfully and pursue your interests. less

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