Twenty-five years teaching at the university.
Two years at the Complutense University of Madrid and the rest at the University of Granada.
How has the university changed?
In the mid-nineties it was overcrowded, I had groups with 500 students. I remember the tutoring hours, the students lined up in my office full of curious and interesting questions, it was stimulating.
And today?
In 2023, the number of students has been reduced to 10% in a university with many more resources, students who have all the knowledge at their fingertips, but with great disinterest.
Absenteeism?
Huge, and they are at a much lower standard than students were 15 years ago. Those who come to class mostly do so with their laptop and cell phone, which they use without shame during class. That is why I wrote an open letter: Dear student, we are deceiving you.
His letter went viral.
Deception arises when you make a student believe that he is better prepared than he really is. The latest educational laws have been aimed at pushing students forward regardless of whether they meet the skills they are supposed to have between the ages of 14 and 17.
How do they get to college?
We have two options: continue to maintain the level of the university and most would suspend, or lower the level, which is what we have done. I approve students in 2023 that I would not approve in 2015, and this is a deception.
What do university students lack today?
They do not have enough vocabulary to understand the content, nor the ability to express themselves. I have students who don't know what words like univocally or let's take a break mean. And they don't have soft skills like knowing how to be, their attitudes are childish.
What does it refer to?
In the second year of my career I have to have a sign that says: "Please do not stick chewing gum or paint on the tables". I also have to cross my arms waiting for them to be quiet to start the class and there is zero discussion, zero participation. The works and presentations are copied from Rincón del Vago and are infected. And most of the students are only present in class.
Where are?
They are on Instagram. When you're on the operating table and your doctor spent college classes surfing TikTok, things start to get complicated.
Is it better for mobile phones to be disconnected in class?
Banned in primary and secondary school, and explain to them what is behind all these companies that invest millions of euros in algorithms to keep them hooked in the hope that when they get to university they will already know how to control themselves.
Do universities require a minimum of passing grades?
The activities of the teaching staff are monitored, one of them being the number of passes for each subject, which influences the department's budget. If there is a teacher who fails above the average, the university will take notice.
Do you have to pass students you wouldn't pass?
You level down. Last year I gave my students the same exam that I gave in 2015, passed by 70% of those who took it; in 2022 they approved four.
A problem of educational policies?
Every five years the law changes. We need an educational pact that works and is based on effort, not on pushing the student forward, it seems that we want to disguise the school failure figures, which are measured based on the number of repeaters, lowering the level and allowing the students pass the course.
What else do you love?
The abandonment of students with high abilities. We have Ferraris in class that are going at the same speed as a Seat Panda and since there is a general climate of boredom in class, they don't want to stand out either. Mediocrity and ignorance are in fashion, boasting that one is ignorant.
To the University?
Yes, and in society in general. A person who is cultured, who is eager to learn, is annoying. Superficiality is the norm, I live it every day.
Give me some of your suggestions.
We make the first years of university and VET more flexible. Degrees don't have to be blocks of cement. Are you starting Computer Science and don't like it? We make catwalks.
An other.
There are students with a vocation overshadowed by the prevailing mediocrity. The university is to train the intellectual elites. Vocational training trains great professionals who do not have to be university graduates.
