Tuesday, January 25, 2011
As a new semester of classes begins, now seems like the time to reflect on what we've not learned and look forward to what we'll be not learning in the coming months.
If recent trends don't not continue, we'll soon be doing more non-learning than ever before, making us the least most non-uneducated generation in American history.
But is this not something to not be non-proud of?
According to the new book “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” a survey of more than 2,000 college students found that 45 percent "did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning" after two years of study. That percentage improved to only 36 percent after four years.
At first glance, these statistics may seem like good reasons to panic. How will we be successful in the real world if we don't learn anything in college? Why are we spending so much on tuition if we're not learning? Will America turn into Dumb-erica, a country of people so dumb they think inventing a word like “Dumb-erica” is clever?
Relax. The study also showed that the students averaged a solid 3.2 GPA. As we all know, grades are infallible indicators of intelligence and academic success, which means there is only one conclusion we can draw from this study: Learning is no longer necessary!
Maybe, there was a time when learning was fundamental to the success and livelihood of individuals and the communities they comprised; I wouldn't know, because I never paid attention in history class. What I do know is now we no longer need to learn stuff (i.e., “things”) in order to receive pieces of paper that certify that we know things (i.e., “stuff”).
Those pieces of paper – also known as “degrees” – are the ultimate prizes of the academic experience. Getting a degree is all that matters, and the more degrees the better (unless you are a snowman or a sprained ankle). Degrees help us attain money via jobs, which themselves are more easily attained by having degrees, a process described in the classic film “The Lion King” as the “Circle of Life.”
Learning can be painful and confusing, so why let it interfere with our pursuit of marketability?
In fact, it seems as though the less learning you do, the more success you will have. According to the study, students majoring in business and education learned the least, which would explain our thriving economy and top-notch school system.
College is about two things: drinking, partying and retaining information just long enough to pass a test. People who actually learn will be left destitute, with only worthless knowledge to comfort them. People who don't will go on to become governors, published authors and reality TV stars--or even all three.
Which would you rather be? I thought so.
Good luck on a new semester. Here's to hoping you forget all of it!
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Comments
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
There has been a concerted effort to instruct students that accountability harms self-esteem and that self-esteem matters.
Except that scientific studies show self-esteem doesn't matter.
Students who come to college and waste professors' and fellow students' time are doing so because they do not accept that anyone, at any time, will hold them accountable.
The only solution is to raise the admissions standards to levels which motivate students to actually perform, internalize critical reasoning and deep analysis as the norm.
The entitled, coddled and wasted youth who bleat about how unfair high standards are will never improve our society until they choose to better themselves, by themselves.
I am so glad I am not actively taking classes anymore.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
@metacogntion: Cool story, bro.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/making-change/201011/self-acceptance-more-substance-self-esteem
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
"College is about two things: drinking, partying and retaining information just long enough to pass a test."
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
You don't go to college to learn anything in most cases; you go to get a degree. I subscribe to the credentialist paradigm which basically means that college degrees are only useful as currency to get you further in society, and as more and more people go to college, they become worth less.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
Your picture says it all. You're a pretentious, self righteous, cow paddy who transfers your failings onto others. You build up your self esteem by trying to make light of the efforts of others. I'd get a new picture if I were you and go stealth. I came to college a few years older and with more experience than most students. For a time I thought that I wasn't learning anything more than I brought with me. I noticed that I used my words differently and began to write more effectively than before. Imagaine my surprise when I discovered that some things could be proven to not be exactly as I thought they were. That means I learned some new stuff. I learned new things, reorganized my thoughts and I started out pretty high above your typical undergrad. Your opinion is your right but it is only an opinion and not a very well thought one at that. Don't make more of it than there is. What is the difference between a 18 year old and a 19 year old? An 18 year old THINKS they know everything and a 19 year KNOWS they know everything. Funny, by the time someone turns 25 they find out that they knew very little about anything.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
I have to question whether you interpreted your quotation in the fourth paragraph correctly. You are mixing two related, but ultimately separate issues. The quotation states "students did not demonstrate any significant IMPROVEMENT in learning," not "students did not demonstrate any significant learning."
This quotation is stating that students' learning skills, not actual content absorbed, have shown non-significant improvement after two years of school. Making the argument that 45% of students didn't learn anything is ludicrous. The argument that students are not learning how to learn is the better argument, at least when relying upon the study you have selected.
As a recent graduate and a current student in a graduate program, I am able to look back at myself 5 years ago, and in comparing that former self to my present self, I am astonished at the difference my education has made.
How can you reconcile the fact that someone who knew only one language prior to a KU education, and now can speak two didn't learn anything in college?
Das ergibt keinen Sinn.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
Hey guys, what's it like going through life without a sense of humor? I'm just curious.
Nichols: Few of us actually gain knowledge in college
I'm convinced you've not learned a damn thing in college... very proud of you!
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