Lower your expectations. Education is not like how it used to be 20-30 years ago. Students are more lazy and sensitive these days.

When I was a student, I was one of those work smart not hard guys. I was a pretty lazy student and only did enough to get by with a B or A. I essentially played the professors in undergrad.

Fast forward... As a professor now, I realized that my expectations as a student should not be influenced by the students today. The first semester I started teaching I was completely shocked that I had students even lazier and sensitive than I was as a student. (This is at a private university where students are essentially paying loads of money to be there).

I have a theory as well on this... As our public education systems are failing (most states have defunded education so much in the US) that students coming into higher education are just not mature or ready for college. This entirely affects the higher education system where we as educators have to dumb down the education and admissions rates for incoming students.

This is also apparent in the community college setting. I will never complain about my experience as a professor at a private university as I know that the students coming into the 2-year setting are just not there yet for college. I have a girlfriend who teaches in this type of setting and sure enough students have called her a "bitch" to her face to even filing grievances because they did not receive the grade they expected in the course.

Higher education in the US will only get worse of we keep the route we are going with how we view the education system here. The fact that states have control of funding for these systems will only create a disparity of students in the country.