Why Aren’t We Learning In College?
“Man, I love college / And I love drinking / I love women / Man, I love college”—Asher Roth
A new study shows less than half of college students show significant improvement in skills such as critical thinking, reading, and writing as a result of a college education.
The numbers are staggering. During the first two years of higher learning, about 45% of respondents had shown absolutely no progress in their these skills. Over the next two years, only 36% indicated significant growth in these areas.
This study is certainly cause for concern, especially when one considers the ever-increasing costs of college tuition. We’re paying more money than ever for an education that helps us a great deal less than any generation seems to have ever known.
So where does the blame go?
Most of it should sit squarely on the shoulders of the students themselves. Yes, I said it. Students set their own schedules. Many have poor study habits and spend most of their study time within a group instead of going over things they don’t understand with a study group and then spending time alone studying.
For many college students, learning is the least of their concerns. The study shows students spend 51% of their time socializing, leaving a minority share of their time for studying or reading. This is a reality I come to grips with everyday. I dare anyone to go to a college campus and attempt to find a true intellectual exchange taking place. Outside of the classroom, it’s not as easy as one might think.
Today’s student looks at college as one big party—isn’t that how college is depicted in mainstream media? We as students tend to seek high GPAs over actual learned skills and material, a practice we develop in lower levels of schooling. Finally, we tell ourselves it’s not what we know, but who we know that will get us hired. With that mantra in mind, we set out to meet as many people as we can with academic performance and intellectual development as distant afterthoughts.
Bottom line: No one can make this generation take learning seriously. What the facts and figures show is that we have a tendency to be undisciplined. There’s nothing wrong with being social or having a “balance.” The problem is our balance has shifted from what we learned last year to what we did last night.
There’s a big world out there, beyond the walls of the residence halls. If college is supposed to prepare us for it but we spend our time doing all but preparing, I have to wonder if we’re wasting valuable time.
Source: California’s Children
I see college as more of a “trade school” than a place to work on critical thinking, reading and writing. (Unless one of those is going to be your chosen profession.) You should be fairly proficient in those areas even before getting to college. In my experience, college has been a place to move past these general-education classes and start figuring out what you want to do with and for the rest of your life. And, once decided, to be ready to work in that field when you graduate.
The above is based on the assumption that students are already proficient in the basic skills mentioned. If they’re not, they should probably go to a junior college for work on that first. They shouldn’t be accepted into a school of higher education anyway.
This article is nothing new…compared to other foreign countries America is behind in education on all levels… Middle school up through college
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