College just isn't what it used to be

First of three parts

One month ago, we addressed the issue of students failing to learn in high school what they need to know for college, forcing colleges and universities to spend billions on remediation classes.

University of Virginia sociology professor Josipa Roksa’s work provides an alarming addition to that issue: Not only are students failing to learn what they need to know for college, they’re failing to learn what they need to know in college.

Ms. Roksa discussed her research with The Daily Progress on May 31. Her work forms the basis of a book she co-authored with Richard Arum, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.”

The research discovered several disturbing indicators:

» In their first two years of college, many students are making little to no gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills.

The authors admit that it is difficult from available research to determine conclusively whether this is part of a trend. But they say that at least some research suggests that it is: One review of the research suggested that students in the 1980s learned at twice the rate of students today.

» Academic rigor has declined, providing fewer challenging opportunities for students to develop critical thinking. 

The authors used reading and writing assignments as a key measure of academic rigor, since these skills are fundamental to learning in almost all contexts. Learning doesn’t happen by “osmosis,” they said. Students must be able (and willing) to read in order to absorb new material, and they must be able to write in order to communicate that material.

In addition, we might add, the very practice of reading and writing develops critical thinking skills, even apart from the topic being studied.

And if students are spending less time reading, then they are spending less time studying. “Until the 1960s,” Ms. Roksa said, “full-time college students spent approximately 25 hours studying per week” — today they spend about half that time.

Conversely, more time is spent with friends. And although some of the social time is devoted to studying or group projects, the nature of the interaction isn’t as intellectually challenging as studying alone.

One statistic that perhaps poses a commentary on academic rigor: Seniors who reported studying alone just five or fewer hours a week still managed to maintain a 3.16 GPA.

» A final interesting tidbit: Students come to college today expecting high grades. As Ms. Roksa noted: “Surveys … suggest that over two-thirds of students today expect to earn a B or higher average in college, compared to only 27 percent in 1971, when the study began.”

Critics of higher education might focus on a decline in academic rigor as the chief reason students are neither learning nor training themselves to learn.

In truth, reasons for the problem are comingled and mutually reinforcing.

 Tomorrow: A tangle of causes