Are college students learning?

[ellisonz]

The open secret in American higher education is that most institutions are unable to measure the quality of their instruction.
By Jonathan Zimmerman
January 31, 2012

Jonathan Zimmerman is a professor of history and education at New York University. He is the author of "Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory."

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Obama proposed several measures to lower college tuition. University leaders responded cautiously, warning that cost-cutting reforms might also cut into instructional quality.

But here's the big open secret in American higher education: Most institutions have no meaningful way to measure the quality of their instruction. And the president didn't ask us to develop one, either.

Instead, he suggested that the federal government tie student aid to colleges' success in reducing tuition and in helping students move forward. In a follow-up speech at the University of Michigan on Friday, he called for a "college score card" that would rank institutions according to cost, graduation rates and future earnings.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-zimmerman-are-college-students-learning-20120131,0,1176778.story

Well-reasoned article on the topic...

[no_hypocrisy]

1. 30+ years ago, I attended and graduated from a small independent

liberal arts college. The emphasis of the professors was more in line with were students thinking. You can't learn without thinking.

Many classes had a handful of students and there was nowhere to hide. You had to come prepared to class, ready to participate. Somewhere between a third and half of the final grade was based on classroom participation. Another third if there were a couple of tests. And the final examination was a third or half of the grade.

Based on my impressions of my classmates' "participation", while a lot of them were ready to go every class, there was an equal portion who may have read the material but didn't know what it meant. Not because of a problem with reading comprehension. They could not or would not think. They were remarkable to me.

These were women who had the extreme benefit of a privileged life complete with private schools and great opportunities. Debutantes.

Their purpose of attending my college was to wait until they got married. I'm not kidding.

In one class that focused on the nascent women's movement, one student ingenuously remarked that she didn't have to make a case to her boyfriend when she wanted something. All she had to do was talk until he gave her what she wanted and he thought it was his idea.

By contrast, I had a professor give me a very hard time, never let things be easy. She got me frustrated, bruised my ego, told me to go back and try harder, etc. And she made me grow up and create my own sense of quality, professionalism, and high standards. I learned how to think with her tutelage.

How many college students are taught how to think?
Even if they "learn", do they understand what they've learned?

[Jefferson23]

2. Terrific post, thanks for posting.