file under ridiculous

At the risk of sounding arrogant, I present you with the following news story. Here is the headline from my alma mater's student newspaper, dated last Friday:

Students work to learn in big lectures

The article goes on:

"[Joe] said he and his classmates often have to tell the professor to slow down because many of the students are unable to keep up with explanations and exercises while jotting down notes."

The article is astounding. Behind the headline and the complaint there is a strange assumption that college is supposed to be easy, that it isn't supposed to be a lot of work. Why do students have this assumption? Why are they publicly voicing their complaints? And what does this say about our expectations for education?