Is College Challenging Enough?

A new book suggests that colleges don't challenge students enough.  The authors of   Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses followed 2,300 students through their first two years at 24 private and public universities and tested their thinking and writing improvement.  The test showed that  45% of the students “demonstrated no significant gains in critical thinking, analytical reasoning, and written communications during the first two years of college.” 


For a lot of people, the first two years of college are a waste of time and money.   Almost half the tuition  goes towards what?  What are students doing if they aren't learning to think, analyze, and write? One thing is sure--they aren't studying as much as in the past.


Another study suggests that students are not having to study as hard as their parents' generation did.  Two University of California professors looked at how much time today's students spend studying outside of class now as compared to past years.   They found that since 1961, study time has declined by 10 hours per week.  (Tuition is not to blame; the study found the same decline in students with jobs and those without.)  The U. of CA. professors blame the decline on falling standards.  Students just don't have to work as much to get decent grades.  


 Academically Adrift reports how the average student spends time per week: 
Labs and class                                   9%
Studying                                              7%
Working/volunteering                   9%
Sleeping                                             24%
Socializing/recreation                  51%

Students spend less time studying than they spend in class?  I thought the ratio was supposed to be three hours studying per each class hour.  Is that a myth?

It's relatively easy for a student to avoid taking demanding classes.  The authors  found that 50% of the students they followed “did not take a single course in which they wrote more than 20 pages over the course of the semester.”   The good news is that the students who had taken  reading/writing intensive courses were in the 55% that scored well on the assessment. I know students groan about having to write papers, but the benefits are measurable.

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