Poor academic performance in colleges and universities upsets higher education critics on the right and the left. But little agreement exists on how to address the problem. You’ll have the chance to make suggestions in our poll (below).
The Pope Center has highlighted some of the symptoms of students’ falling academic performance and low levels of engagement.
Literature professor Thomas Bertonneau has lamented students’ disdain for reading. (According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, only 29 percent of 4-year college graduates read at an advanced level.) And education critic Murray Sperber has complained that they can’t write either!
The problem extends from the three R’s into specific subject matter. Studies issued by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) revealed that the average college freshman knows astoundingly little about America’s history, government, international relations, and the market economy. And by the time they’re seniors, students’ knowledge hasn’t improved. According to ISI, “seniors do not know America’s founding documents. Only 45.9% know that the line ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’ comes from the Declaration of Independence.” Liberal education critics Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, in their recent book Higher Education?, have also attacked the notion that college education makes people more thoughtful and civically engaged (among other criticisms).
In fact, Academically Adrift, a recent book by sociologists Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia, shows that nearly half of university students show little to no academic progress by their sophomore year. English professor Mark Bauerlein goes so far as to accuse current students of being part of the Dumbest Generation!
The question remains: how can universities, professors, parents, and taxpayers fix this sad state of affairs? Take our poll to tell us what you think! (You can choose more than one answer.)