Business, Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Higher Ed

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How low can it go?

…though the people who have performed these studies come at the question from different directions with differing social and political attitudes and with differing methodologies, there is very little difference in their conclusions. They all find that recent graduates seem to have been very poorly educated. One study after another has found that they write badly, can’t reason, can’t read any reasonably complex material, have alarming gaps in their knowledge of the history and institutions of the society in which they live, and are in general poorly prepared for the workplace.

The most interesting—and devastating—of these studies is that by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, whose book documenting their study, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, appeared in 2011. Arum and Roksa found that higher education in America today “is characterized by limited or no learning for a large proportion of students.” More specifically, “An astounding proportion of students are progressing through higher education today without measurable gains in general skills as assessed by the CLA [Collegiate Learning Assessment].” The authors also find “at least some evidence that college students improved their critical thinking skills much more in the past than they do today.”

Looking at a sample of more than 2,300 students, Arum and Roksa observed “no statistically significant gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills for at least 45 percent of the students” tracked in their study. What is interesting here is that the two researchers seem somewhat puzzled by these results. Nonetheless, they see clearly enough that the blame must rest with the faculty—that students didn’t just get dumber for no reason. Arum and Roksa think the problem must be that professors don’t demand enough of students. In one sense they are right (though not in the way they probably intend), but they seem unwilling to ask why this change has happened. It can’t be that faculty suddenly became lazy.

Like the public-education system, this is a self-imposed and costly national disaster. Most of these people aren’t educated; they’re merely credentialed, and the credentials are in many cases worthless.

[Late-morning update]

Here’s an example of the problem.

[Update a couple minutes later]

No, U of California, you cannot ban the phrase “Chinese Virus.”

8 thoughts on “Higher Ed”

    1. When I was in college – it was less broken then – every time the state would look to cut college funding, the university would put together elaborate media pieces detailing the 120hr work week that every hard working professor had to put in just to stay afloat in the tough academic world. Plus a little flag waving about staying competitive with countries like Japan and Germany.

      1. Yes. I went to university when it was less broken, and I remember a discussion with my tutor about how he really only dealt with students because he had to, and would much rather just get on with his research. I suspect many felt that way but he was the only one who was willing to admit it.

        “Arum and Roksa think the problem must be that professors don’t demand enough of students.”

        But I’m not sure I agree with that. I suspect a bigger problem is the massive expansion of the number of people going to university to the point where many of them aren’t really capable of much in the way of critical thinking and complex reasoning.

        When you send 50% of kids to university, you end up with a large number of kids who are simply incapable of doing the work. At least in any rigorous degree course, rather than Lesbian Dance Studies.

  2. I suggest we follow the Japanese example. Competitive testing upon high school graduation to determine college eligibility and placement. Tests would include critical thinking and math skills. Also, cancel federal funding for the social “sciences” and humanities. Especially sex and gender studies. The funding saved should be sent to schools teaching practical studies like plumbing, electrical contracting etc.

    1. Here’s a comprehensive test to weed out poor students. “This is the price of the program you are wanting to sign up for. Will that be cash, check, or money order?” Then let the colleges compete to get the prices low enough to attract students when Uncle Sugar isn’t cratering the playing field.

      Part two. Let businesses test job candidates without legal risk.

  3. I prefer the term “Chinese Bat Cooties”.

    Competitive testing upon high school graduation to determine college eligibility and placement.

    Wasn’t that was the SAT was for 45 years ago when I took it? It got “woke” and dumbed down along with everything else in the Education-Industrial Complex.

    1. These ‘calling it Chinese Flu is RACIST!’ losers are really going to freak out when they discover there’s increasing historical evidence that the ‘Spanish Flu’ actually originated in China.

      In fact, it’s hard to think of a major international pandemic which didn’t come from China.

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