don't worry too much, you're not learning anything anyway...

Quote :

"A study of more than 2,300 undergraduates found 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in the key measures of critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years. Not much is asked of students, either. Half did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester, and one-third did not take a single course requiring even 40 pages of reading per week. The findings are in a new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," by sociologists Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia. An accompanying report argues against federal mandates holding schools accountable, a prospect long feared in American higher education[...] Among the findings outlined in the book and report, which tracked students through four years of college: —Overall, the picture doesn't brighten much over four years. After four years, 36 percent of students did not demonstrate significant improvement, compared to 45 percent after two. —Students who studied alone, read and wrote more, attended more selective schools and majored in traditional arts and sciences majors posted greater learning gains. —Social engagement generally does not help student performance. Students who spent more time studying with peers showed diminishing growth and students who spent more time in the Greek system had decreased rates of learning, while activities such as working off campus, participating in campus clubs and volunteering did not impact learning."

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/8956651/

1/18/2011 10:44:55 AM

Colleges like NCSU are so, so far above most of the other colleges in this country it's ridiculous. Just think how far State is above Appalachian... and App is almost a respectable school.

1/18/2011 10:48:40 AM

its all those damn humanities classes we are required to take

1/18/2011 10:49:39 AM

^maybe you should've done an associate's degree--a lot less gen ed classes

1/18/2011 10:54:57 AM

I call bullshit on the reading metric. I don't think I ever had a class - save PE - where I didn't have to read 40 pages worth of something a week. It might not have been a textbook or a novel, but it was reading relevant to the coursework.

1/18/2011 10:59:20 AM

maybe you don't have the tenacity of gz390

1/18/2011 11:07:15 AM

I have learned 100 times more in graduate school than I ever did in undergrad, which is evident not only with basic knowledge but also in analytical ability, reading speed and comprehension, and writing skills.

1/18/2011 11:13:09 AM

I have learned 100 times more in graduate school my career(s) than I ever did in undergrad

1/18/2011 11:18:14 AM

Quote :

"students who spent more time in the Greek system had decreased rates of learning"

1/18/2011 11:40:40 AM

I believe that I learned the most during my senior design project, which was like having a real-world, full-time job.

1/18/2011 11:41:01 AM

my undergrad advisor (who is now part of my phd board) was the first one to tell me that an undergraduate degree is the new high school diploma

you have a BA/BS? whoop-de-fuckin-do...so do a million others, and hundreds are smarter

most people are better off skipping college altogether and getting a job they can put 5-6 years into...it's worth more

1/18/2011 12:00:56 PM