The Marketplace of Ideas
David Brooks wrote a column in today's NY Times about the deplorable state of higher education in the United States. "Colleges are supposed to produce learning," he says. "But [a recent study] found that, on average, students experienced a pathetic seven percentile point gain in skills during their first two years in college and a marginal gain in the two years after that."
The study that Brooks refers to is a new book called Academically Adriftby Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. (You can also find a précis of the book's argument in Issue 43 (2011) of Change Magazine entitled "The State of Undergraduate Learning.") In addition to the figure that Brooks cited above, the two sociologists found that, on average, only 45% of American undergraduates experience a significant improvement in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and writing skills over their first two years in college.
Why? Because students spend very little time on schoolwork. …
The study that Brooks refers to is a new book called Academically Adriftby Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. (You can also find a précis of the book's argument in Issue 43 (2011) of Change Magazine entitled "The State of Undergraduate Learning.") In addition to the figure that Brooks cited above, the two sociologists found that, on average, only 45% of American undergraduates experience a significant improvement in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and writing skills over their first two years in college.
Why? Because students spend very little time on schoolwork. …