Your kids may not be learning much in college after all. New research finds 45 percent of university students show no significant improvement in test scores after two years of college. A New York University professor presents the findings in his new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning."
The book's accompanying study suggests those same students showed no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years. Half of them did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester.
Among the findings outlined in the book and report, which tracked students through four years of college:
*Overall, the picture doesn't brighten much over four years. After four years, 36 percent of students did not demonstrate significant improvement, compared to 45 percent after two.
College May Be Too Easy, Study Says - New Jersey 101.5 FM
Oh brother. Another hundred grand down the toilet.
1. “…The fate of the modern university and the fate of Western civilization are inextricably intertwined.” Brigette Berger, “Multiculturalism and the Modern University,” from ‘The Politics of Political Correctness,’ in the Partisan Review (1993) pp. 516, 519
2. Today we are witness to the abandonment of the ideals of preservation of the great works and traditions of Western civilization, including the traditions of rationality and skepticism, by our universities.
a. This
loss of respect for intellect spreads to lower schools, and to society in general. “It was only a matter of time. The graphic novel along with its on-screen equivalent, computer games, are to be offered to students as a new university course.”
Holy academia, Batman! Scots universities offer courses in comics - Times Online
b. The education system is necessarily
opposed to meritocracy and reward for achievement. Fads such as the
self-esteem movement take precedence. “Berkeley High School is considering a controversial proposal to eliminate science labs and the five science teachers who teach them to free up more resources to help struggling students.”
Berkeley High May Cut Out Science Labs | News | Oakland, Berkeley, Bay Area & California | East Bay Express
3. And the reason for the change is even more disheartening: Universities have abandoned intellect because it represented the barrier that rationality places in the way of
politicization.
a. The move is toward ever more insistent and
radical egalitarianism which is the very heart of modern liberalism, as “intellect in America is resented as a kind of excellence, as a claim to distinction, as a challenge to egalitarianism, as a quantity which almost certainly deprives a man or woman of the common touch.” Richard Hofstadter, “Anti-intellectualism in American Life,” p. 51.
b. One can trace the
anti-intellectualism, modern liberalism, and the passion for an evangelical equality as moving in tandem.
c. In light of the fact that the rational though can imperil many of the premises of the radical left, there has grown what is called post-modernism, an outright
denial of truth. Even in scienceÂ…
d. The leading proponents of ‘post-normal science,’ PNS, Funtowicz and Ravetz, have written that, in issue-driven science, ‘facts’ and ‘values’ are unified by replacing ‘truth’ by ‘quality.’
http://www.ecoeco.org/pdf/pstnormsc.pdf
e. Students are taught by
left-wing professors that traditional respect for logic, evidence, intellectual honesty, and the other requirements for scholastic discipline are not merely passé, but repressive, attempting to support a society that benefits only white, heterosexual males.
4. In too many college courses, examinations are minimized, grades inflated, and grading is based on ‘class participation.’ This is especially true in
schools of education, where prospective
teachers are thus allowed to avoid competition, and invest in educational faddishness in opposition to conventional (bourgeois) methods and standards. Robert H. Bork, “Slouching Toward Gomorrah,” ch. 7.
5. The National Association of Scholars (NAS) documented the changes in universities comparing the years 1914, 1939, 1964 and 1993.
a. Decline in required courses from 55% of courses, down to 33% by 1993. And even more telling, in 1914 no exemptions were allowed in 98% of the courses, but by 1993 it was only in 29%. This, of course produces students with a far narrower basis for understanding context.
b. In 1914, 57% of institutions had a literature requirement, by 1993 this was down to 14%. The same pattern appeared in philosophy, religion, social science, natural science, and mathematics.
c. The study found
“diminishing rigor at most prestigious colleges…” Students graduating from these elite schools not only had fewer assignments to complete but were asked to do considerably less in completing them.” The NAS commented on how this drop off in hard work negatively influences character, and this effect on society’s leaders impacts the strength and vitality of society.
d. Decline of rigor can be seen, as well, in the number of days classes were in session, from 204 in 1914 to 156 in 1993, and the length of a class period fell by 10.2%.
The National Association of Scholars, “The Dissolution of General Education: 1914-1993”
NAS - The National Association of Scholars :: Reports
6. Interesting as well, and an indication of correspondence, the NAS found the above trends accelerate from the Sixties on.
