An op-ed in the 05/14/11 New York times ...Your So-Called Education
By RICHARD ARUM and JOSIPA ROKSA
COMMENCEMENT is a special time on college campuses: an occasion for students, families, faculty and administrators to come together to celebrate a job well done. And perhaps there is reason to be pleased. In recent surveys of college seniors, more than 90 percent report gaining subject-specific knowledge and developing the ability to think critically and analytically. Almost 9 out of 10 report that overall, they were satisfied with their collegiate experiences.
We would be happy to join in the celebrations if it weren’t for our recent research, which raises doubts about the quality of undergraduate learning in the United States. Over four years, we followed the progress of several thousand students in more than two dozen diverse four-year colleges and universities. We found that large numbers of the students were making their way through college with minimal exposure to rigorous coursework, only a modest investment of effort and little or no meaningful improvement in skills like writing and reasoning.
[Later, answering the question "Why is it this way?]
The situation reflects a larger cultural change in the relationship between students and colleges. The authority of educators has diminished, and students are increasingly thought of, by themselves and their colleges, as “clients” or “consumers.” When 18-year-olds are emboldened to see themselves in this manner, many look for ways to attain an educational credential effortlessly and comfortably. And they are catered to accordingly. The customer is always right.
...
Too many institutions, for instance, rely primarily on student course evaluations to assess teaching. This creates perverse incentives for professors to demand little and give out good grades.
[Sorry, just remembered how far we've already fallen!]
Aren't the very people with the power and authority to change things ALSO self-evaluating themselves highly?
ReplyDeleteNothing short of a massive revolution will change the status quo.
Revolution now! Right, Strelnikov!? Streli?....
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the authors of Academically Adrift are taking advantage of graduation season to try to drum up a second wave of publicity for their book. I've heard some questioning of their methods. Still, if this article provokes further conversation on the subjects they raise -- especially the decline of rigor and overuse of student evals. -- I'll take it.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I realize that I probably don't want to see what either rigor or an alternative to student-eval-driven evaluation of teachers would look like once the administrators who created the current system get through with them.
I love that the end of the article suggests that educational investors, alumni and parents "could" emphasize learning over fancy buildings and networks.
ReplyDeleteYes. Could. Won't.
I just wish someone would emphasize learning over data. I probably hear that word ten times a day. Data is code for students who meet learning outcomes, stay in a course, pass, go on to take the next course, and graduate. That in no way measures actual learning. But that's too difficult for administrators to understand. Qualitative data, examination of rigor, and even quantitative data which shows how students do who have had more rigor in their curriculum are not a part of the paradigm. We keep talking about "student success" as if it were some kind of magic mantra. It sounds much more gimmicky than education, which is what I went into this profession to undertake with students. To me, their success comes from being challenged and actually learning something from that challenge. That learning might not result in a passing grade. It might even result in someone's realizing that now is not the right time for college and that personal responsibility dictates making different priorities. Or it could result in someone who's very well prepared for the next course and outperforms other students whose proffies gave them less rigor even though all the students in question got As.
ReplyDeleteData is supposedly neat and unquestionable. Real education is messy and full of questions.
@ EnglishDoc
ReplyDeleteYour points are well taken, though I don't know anyone has declared data "neat and unquestionable."
On the other hand, "qualitative" has often been bastardized to mean "anecdotal storytelling with a sample of 1."
Indeed, real education is messy and full of questions. Hopefully, a middle ground of measuring verifiable learning outcomes can be devised/obtained.
I would hope that we could agree that teaching to the mass-produced commercial test and relying on consumer satisfaction surveys are both unacceptable underpinnings of education policy and development.