Perhaps only 10% of the class have demonstrated good mastery of the material in the space of one semester, which is a different thing. This is not only plausible, but probable, with hordes of students taking classes in which they have no interest, and for which they are poorly prepared, but which someone decided they must take as a prerequisite for their major -- which may not have much connection with the class.
I have taught Chemistry for years, and many of the students who take chemistry courses are pre-med, pre-dental, pre-vet, nursing, or PT majors who are *required* to take Gen Chem and often Organic. Often, it turns out that they are not required to take those courses specifically, but are only required to take a science course which includes a laboratory component, and they choose a chemistry course for no particularly compelling reason, without the slightest exposure to chemistry (or much science, for that matter) in school to that point. It is hard to imagine a more effective prescription for disinterested students, yet it is the norm.
Nor are students' choices of a major necessarily based on a qualified, objective analysis of their abilities. It amazes me to see how many students go into college expecting to become doctors when they can't even scrape together a B average in their intro courses. Too many choose that profession based on a wildly unrealistic estimate of what a medical education involves, much less what actually being a doctor involves. They just know it's a prestigious, well-paying profession, or have some altruistic notion of helping people without realizing that only help from someone with more abilities than they possess is likely to be wanted.
Perhaps students need to be talking to their advisors more -- not just their assigned faculty advisor, but high school career guidance counselors (if such jobs still exist), family, people in the profession they hope to enter, etc. I don't remember anyone providing me with much information at all about what to expect in college, except for a couple of lucky chance encounters with people from the college I hoped to attend. I think most students enter school even more blindly than that, and their career plans -- such as they are -- are based more on wishful thinking than informed analysis or preparation. The educated classes actively prepare their children for college; most 'Merkins just expect their kids to muddle through with a C average the way they would themselves, and after four years of attendance without intellectual commitment, get their had stamped "employable", with a nice framed certificate to prove it. They just can't imagine that college might serve a better purpose than that.
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