Smarten up college students before adding more graduates - Yahoo! News
A critical ingredient in President Obama’s effort to create jobs is his plan for colleges to graduate an additional 5 million students by 2020. But a troubling new study should give pause to this otherwise noble national project.
The study indicates that nearly half of all college students do not show any progress in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication during their first two years. And after four years in college, more than a third of students do not show any significant improvement in these higher-order cognitive skills.
With data like this, is it wise to invest more taxpayer money in schools of higher education simply to raise graduation rates and give more people a college credential? Aren’t such skills essential for an advanced economy like America’s to remain globally competitive?
The study tracked more than 2,000 students at 24 four-year colleges of various types starting in 2005. It was conducted by two sociology professors, Richard Arum of New York University and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia, relying largely on a test known as Collegiate Learning Assessment. [...]
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