Why College Students Don't Learn

[KUGRDON]

 

Why College Students Don't Learn MuchBy Michael Poliakoff, ACTA

"What Will They Learn?" asks the American Council of Trustees and Alumni's (ACTA) annual study of college core requirements. And given what we uncovered this year, it is no surprise that -- as famously documented by Richard Arum and Josipa Roska in Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses -- many students graduate without having learned much of anything.

Our methodology is simple. We look at whether an institution requires its students to study seven basic subjects: literature, U.S. government or history, foreign language, mathematics, economics, science, and composition. And what have we found? Only 13 percent of the nearly 1,100 schools ACTA evaluated require the equivalent of three semesters of foreign-language study. With all the national buzz about our need for more STEM education, fewer than two-thirds of schools require college-level math. In a globalized economy frequently beset by economic crises, just 3 percent require even a single course in basic economics.

In total, only 23 schools require at least six of these seven subjects.

What are students taking instead? There is a cornucopia of the enticing and nugatory. For example, at Harvard, students can fulfill their literature requirement with "American Dreams from Scarface to Easy Rider." At the University of Colorado-Boulder, students can take "Horror Films and American Culture" or "America Through Basketball" in lieu of an American-history course. The absence of strong general-education requirements has allowed too many students to replace intellectual rigor with the academic equivalent of junk food.

http://www.realclearpolicy.com/blog/2014/10/24/why_college_students_dont_learn_much.html

 

[glduck]

that's kind of true. i double majored and learned a shit ton in the areas i wanted to focus, but i actively looked for and took the easy route when it came to pre-reqs. it was a specialized, and not well-rounded, education.

[Orange]

I took about 3 film classes at Oregon State, badminton and basketball.  Twice..  I learn more about history in three months nowadays reading biographies and historical non-fiction than I did in 4 years of college.

[All Hail]

Education, just like anything, is what you make of it and what you out into it. I feel like I learned a lot about history as well as the discipline required to make it in the real world. I had access to some of the smartest people I've ever met and no longer have that access. while in college, the vast majority of people I was surrounded by were determined to succeed and were exceptionally driven. I suppose this might not be the case at schools with low entrance requirements.

[PAC MAN]

I took about 3 film classes at Oregon State, badminton and basketball.  Twice..  I learn more about history in three months nowadays reading biographies and historical non-fiction than I did in 4 years of college.

 

That is so true and with the internet, there is access to so much more historical information than there ever was before people became connected to the internet.

 

I also took bowling class and the way to get an A in that class was improve your bowling scores and pass the exams about bowling rules.  I got that A.

[Orange]

That is so true and with the internet, there is access to so much more historical information than there ever was before people became connected to the internet.

 

I also took bowling class and the way to get an A in that class was improve your bowling scores and pass the exams about bowling rules.  I got that A.

 

Eh.

The internet is a double-edged sword.  It contains FAR more misinformation than good information, IMO.  People who exclusively rely on it, particularly in these political/history arguments, tend to be the most ignorant.

[Orange]

Education, just like anything, is what you make of it and what you out into it. I feel like I learned a lot about history as well as the discipline required to make it in the real world. I had access to some of the smartest people I've ever met and no longer have that access. while in college, the vast majority of people I was surrounded by were determined to succeed and were exceptionally driven. I suppose this might not be the case at schools with low entrance requirements.

 

Agreed, part of my trouble at Oregon State was that I did not want to be a forestry/Ag/Engineering major, and couldn't find a discipline there that both interested me, and seemed to lead to a career.  When I left for Oregon to major in journalism, I was far more tightly focused, and got a lot out of my education.