I recently read an article in
the NY Times that completely shocked me. Written by Bob Herbert, the piece
reported on the findings of the book, Academically
Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Arum & Roska,
2011), (2011). According to the authors’ findings, college students are graduating
with much less critical thinking, communication, and reasoning skills than in
the past. Upwards of 45% of students showed no improvement in these areas after
their first two years. Many graduates could not even solve simple tasks such as
distinguishing fact from opinion. When compared with their peers from the
1960s, the 2,300 students surveyed also spent 50% less time studying, with 36%
percent reporting allotting less than five hours a week on homework. Yet, the
average grade point average of such students was above a B (Herbert, 2011).
The article criticized both
students for attempting to “slide-by” and institutions for allowing them to. However,
I suspect that much more is at play than simply shocking statistics. The
educational landscape has changed drastically since the 1960s and I don’t
believe that a side-by-side comparison of outcomes between today’s graduates
and past graduates is fair. Institutions have greatly diversified in type and
in population. There are now colleges for every type of student – those that
commute, want to obtain a technical degree, are returning to school after a
long time, as well as the traditional student. While I applaud this trend and
promote equity efforts, I wonder if something has been lost in the shift
towards diversification. Are colleges (and students) still making learning the
clear and pure priority?
The rise in professionally
focused programs likely also contributes. The liberal arts curriculum which was
the hard and fast rule of the past, now serves a limited percentage of college
students. I presume, from my own
experience, that outcomes from liberal arts schools—where critical thinking and
communication is central to the curriculum—would differ from the results indicated
in the national study. However, these programs are not necessarily better or
produce more prepared students. One has to wonder what important and indicative
skills the study highlighted in Academic Drift
is not measuring.
Even if it does not paint a
complete picture, this report still garners attention. Critical thinking, reasoning
and communication are important qualities to instill in students – clearly something
needs to change, regardless of the mission of a university’s curriculum.
Perhaps the answer is not to limit criticism to the students and faculty, but
to look to administrators as well. As students and institutions become more
diverse, and programs become more career focused, it is up to student services
to fill in the gaps. As student affairs professionals, how and when can we capitalize
on opportunities to create thoughtful and productive graduates?
This is a really complete and fair analysis of the factors at play, Sofie! I think you're right about the outcomes from liberal arts colleges perhaps being stronger, but it does beg the question about the greater college landscape. What are the students learning? How are they developing? As we are well aware, the development of a sense of independence, career skills, and other attributes gained outside of the classroom are just as important. Societal and technological shifts have re-prioritized certain traditional skills, however, I am concerned about the decreases in critical thinking skills. Regardless of the application, students should graduate prepared to think critically about the issues and challenges of their field.
ReplyDeleteHow sad! This also reminds me of the research from Barr and Tagg- on how higher education is shifting from teaching to learning. That in the past, the classroom focus was more teaching based, but that the paradigm has shifted for there to be more of a focus on learning. Their research seems contradictory to this article! I am sad to read the statistics of how upwards of 45% of students showed no improvement in critical thinking, communication, and reasoning skills, but at the same time, I am not too incredibly surprised. I certainly am shocked to hear it at such a high percentage, but with media, technology, nontraditional working students, there seem to be more vying for student's attention these days that can distract from learning. Ultimately, college is meant to develop these important life skills. If our students are not learning these imperative skills during some of their most formative years in life, how does this impact the rest of society? What can we as student affairs professionals do to further instigate learning to happen?
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely an issue. However, I can't help but wonder if part of the reason that students spend less time studying is because we are in an era that has so much research at our fingertips. We are no longer in an era where we need to drudge through the bookshelves and spend hours scanning through journals to find the information valuable to our research. In the 1960s, they may have studied more because studying was a more elongated process. Now, we are just a click away from accessing any piece of research available. Of course, this observation does not give any insight into why the critical thinking skills of the students today are suffering. As student affairs professionals, I feel that we need to be creating opportunities for our students to challenge themselves. I also feel that we need to develop students who want to learn and grow. I feel that the more we focus on the letter grades, the more students are going to want to do only what is necessary to pass or get the desired grade. Since it seems like a "B" really doesn't mean what it used to, we may as well start anew with a different strategy.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic and the findings are pretty shocking. The first thing I thought about is the kind of teaching that is happening in the classroom. Im curious to know the type of institutions these 2,300 students are coming from. If they are coming from largely research institutions I can't help but think that the teaching they are getting might be a part of why they lack in so many areas. When a professor is a researcher first and a teacher second, that has to have some effect on the student's learning. There is no doubt that the student's efforts in their studies has the most to do with the amount of learning they are actually doing. There are also a whole lot of other things students can be doing other than studying, especially when on a computer. That being said, I think the teaching that goes on in the classroom, and where the priorities of the faculty lie-whether in research or in teaching-can have a dramatic effect on what a student takes away from a classroom. -Gerry
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a very interesting topic, and one that many researchers and campuses are beginning to look at more closely. I definitely think that comparing now and the past is unfair because our society is so different in many ways. Things have not only changed in the last 50 years, but they have changed fairly quickly, meaning our educational system has needed to adapt quickly as well. Perhaps K-12 and higher education haven't fully changed to meet the new expectations of college students. College is a drastically different experience for students these days, and we see that in the number of students who come to college to get jobs, and often times see education as something to "get through." Learning is not valued in and of itself as much as I think it used to be; learning is now valued for how it will pay off. That mindset affects what students retain and what they do not, because learning critical thinking skills in a general education philosophy course is not something students see as valuable to them in their future careers. I think that due to this student mindset, you are right Sofie, that our job as student affairs professionals is that much more important. We have to challenge students to do things that are new to them, and challenge them to see the value of learning outside of the payoff.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised by these statistics because there is very little oversight on higher education campuses with regards to student learning. Colleges make the assumption that when students come to campus, they are are adults and therefore, responsible for their own education with little interference from the college itself. Since colleges and universities are not being held accountable for students' cognitive and non-cognitive growth, scholars are left to their own devices to get by and earn that A or B in the class. The truth is that grades have become meaningless because they are unreliable indicators of academic mastery. Higher education institutions must take a more proactive approach to developing value-added assessment measures that can accurately evaluate student learning gains as a result of the specific programs and services provided by the college.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that schools are to blame, and it's not fair to compare,, but there is a problem. The lack of reasoning and critical skills is scary. Not being able to distinguish between fact and opinion is a basic function that all college students should be able to answer. It makes me worried for the future.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there is definitely grade inflation going on.
Is learning still a priority of today's institutions of higher learning? A significant number of today's graduates have poor communication skills and cannot think critically. School administrators should find ways of releasing productive and thoughtful graduates into the market thought models that fit the contemporary and dynamic academic times we are living in.
ReplyDeleteBy Raquel Anderson
Correction:
Delete"into the market through models".
Sorry about the mistake.
Raquel
I find the statistics in this article very, very sad! Initially I was taken aback and wondered how this was true -- during both my undergraduate and graduate years, I feel as though I've been surrounded by students who are passionate about their studies and eager to learn. However, I believe that Sofie makes a very good point -- the landscape of higher education has in fact changed. There are many different degree programs and colleges that work to develop very particular skills within students, not necessarily the ones the book measures. While critical thinking, reasoning, and communication skills are important, I understand why it is not at the forefront of ever student's education. For example, if a student is attending a professional school in the arts, such as fashion, I understand why classes would not necessarily focus on building the same thinking, reasoning, and communication skills that a liberal arts university may emphasize. That being said, it is imperative that everyone develops such skills, in some sort of capacity. I believe that students, to a certain extent, do in fact develop these skills through their out of classroom experiences (yes! student affairs!). Mentoring students in leadership positions, encouraging students to reach out to their professors outside of class, encouraging them to meet with RAs, job supervisors, etc.... will all help students build these skills. As we encourage students to get involved and challenge themselves outside of the classroom, we are in turn fostering their communication, critical thinking, and reasoning skills that they may be lacking within the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sofie for bringing up these salient points. I often wonder about how students are developing their critical thinking and communication skills when assisting students at the USC Career Center. When I ask them, "Why do you want to work for this company?" during a walk-in advising session, many stare at me blankly. They simply don't know and haven't developed the critical thinking skills necessary to articulate their interest in a one page cover letter.
ReplyDeleteAs student affairs professionals, we can help students think critically and practice communication outside of the classroom. In fact, looking back on my college experiences, I believe I learned more from my discussions with other students and participation in activities such as Toastmasters, Chi Omega, and a peer counseling group than I did in some courses. I wonder what it would be like at a school where students were required to participate in some type of leadership activity in order to graduate?
ReplyDelete