Future teaching standards in the bin

Before I get into this, let me begin by stating that this post is in no way aiming to "bash" the teaching profession and/or college students. I am a college student myself hoping to be a NQT in a couple of years time. I like to think that I have much more respect for the profession than most people. However, that being said, I am highly concerned about the standards of educators coming out of our colleges.

For context, I am currently enrolled in a major third-level institution on a "concurrent" degree program. For those who don't know, this means that we study two arts subjects as well as education modules such as philosophy, teaching methods, etc. In other words, everyone enrolled on the course is aiming to be a second-level teacher, and will be immediately qualified to register as one upon graduation of this 4 year course.

Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for how careless and lazy some people are on this course. Before I make generalizations, maybe 20-30% of the cohort are hard-working and will undoubtedly make great teachers. However, the remainder would make you seriously worry for our education system's future. For one of my arts subject, there is supposed to be over 50 students at every lecture. This semester, we only have two lectures per week in that subject, and yet an attendance of 15 would be considered a lot. I have sat in lecture halls with 4 or 5 students on a normal day and nobody bats an eyelid. They are not recorded or livestreamed, so if you miss the lecture you have to rely on the notes posted online or taken from someone who did attend.

I am not suggesting that attendance at college lectures makes a good teacher, that is obviously not the case. However, what concerns me is the general attitude of some students. Most clearly do not enjoy one or both of their arts subjects, and constantly complain about courses, modules, lecturers, assignments, and literally any tiny bit of work that they feel inconvenienced to complete. I was met with complete shock when I told a group of my peers that I actually enjoy studying my arts subjects and the idea of becoming a teacher. I hate being occupied with what other people are doing, but it is starting to bother me how much some people take this opportunity to be educated for granted. Some of the lecturers clearly silently hold the same view as myself as they get agitated at completely unreasonable requests from some students who clearly aren't bothered to do a bit of work.

I cam sorry for ranting, but I could go on for hours about how little some of these people care. I don't ever go beyond what is required of me in education, and my problem isn't with the fact that they don't study or whatever. My problem is that they do not care if they are good at their subjects or not, or if they understand how important the profession is. We are only young and are never going to be perfect students (the craic is obviously a huge part of the college experience) but why would you bother spending thousands a year to inevitably be absolutely shite at your job and never inspire any students to do anything with their lives?

I won't name the institution over a slight fear of consequences, but honestly I'd be half tempted to because they let people get away with it by their ridiculous methods of assessment. For example, we've had 3 modules assessed by making a poster containing everything you've learned on the module which you could just copy and paste from your notes. They do this to maintain their low dropout rate, which I admit is admirable but the lengths they go to are a bit extreme because it lets students into a really deep sense of security ("they'll never fail us") and drives this culture of making absolutely zero effort to further your own learning.

Sorry again for the rant, but this has been brewing in my mind for a while.