Is the stereotypical American college student lazy, entitled and more interested in video games than homework?

That's the message coming across in this opinion piece penned recently in the Boston Globe.  The author, Kara Miller, is a lecturer at Babson College in Boston, and she takes aim at the American students in her rhetoric and history courses. 

Those students, she says, routinely account for the C's, D's and F's she gives out, while international students, who arrive in Boston with a much better work ethic, score A's and B's even while battling a language barrier.

Not surprisingly, the story sparked quite the reaction in Boston, a city of academics. As I post this, there are 603 comments attached to the story. 

Inside Higher Ed, a higher education trade publication, deconstructed the story a bit, as well. You can read that here.

To give you just a taste of what Miller's talking about, consider this snippet:

"Chinese undergraduates have consistently impressed me with their work ethic, though I have seen similar habits in students from India, Thailand, Brazil, and Venezuela. Often, they’ve done little English-language writing in their home countries, and they frequently struggle to understand my lectures.

But their respect for professors - and for knowledge itself - is palpable. The students listen intently to everything I say, whether in class or during office hours, and try to engage in the conversation.

Too many 18-year-old Americans, meanwhile, text one another under their desks (certain they are sly enough to go unnoticed), check e-mail, decline to take notes, and appear tired and disengaged."