As university students, education is a big part of our lives. Believe it or not, it ought to be the biggest part. To that end, good teachers need to be retained by the university.

Too often, when a non-tenured professor’s contract is up for renewal or colleges and the university are making decisions about whether to grant tenure, they examine pass/fail rates and grade distributions more closely than they take into account the professor’s seriousness about his or her discipline as well as teaching it.

It is a travesty of bureaucracy whenever a good teacher is dismissed because he or she retains high expectations for students. There is a certain amount of coursework and study necessary for academic success at a university level; we may be able to coast through high school, but if we are to receive and experience a competitive education at the college level, it cannot be easy.

Passing tests and earning 3.0 GPAs is insufficient. They are a good start, certainly, and Gov. Terry’ Branstad’s proposal requiring prospective teachers to earn a 3.0 GPA is a step in the right direction — competence at course material is an essential part of success at teaching.

But hard and fast rules can be dangerous. We can begin to assume that they lead to excellence. All they do, however, is ensure a minimum standard. Other factors have to go into evaluations. At a university level, deciding whether to renew a contract or grant tenure based on pass/fail rates should only be a small part of the story.

In some cases, professors routinely fail relatively large numbers of students because, for all their competency at teaching and offers of their time to students, students fail to realize that anything worth doing requires work. Despite investing tens of thousands of dollars to our education, we go through our four (or five, or six) years here putting forth minimal effort.

Routinely, professors tell us truthfully that the best students in their classes are the ones who spend about three hours of their time outside class preparing or studying for each hour of class. In a three-credit course, that means 12 hours of study. A course load of 15 credits, then, would mean dedicating at least 60 hours each week to class and study.

College is supposed to be difficult. Keeping faculty members who hold their students to rigorous standards should be one of the top priorities of any university. If Iowa State wants to be a leader in education, it must hold on to demanding professors who have a genuine interest in instilling in their students the best education.

Quality education requires an appropriate attitude held by both teachers and students. Teachers shouldn’t suffer simply because students are lazy.