Posted on 01/17/2015 6:24:17 AM PST by grundle
Four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.
The test, which was administered at 169 colleges and universities in 2013 and 2014 and released Thursday, reveals broad variation in the intellectual development of the nation’s students depending on the type and even location of the school they attend.
... many still graduate without the ability to read a scatterplot, construct a cohesive argument or identify a logical fallacy.
The exam, known as the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus, measures the intellectual gains made between freshman and senior year. The test doesn’t cover subject-area knowledge; rather it assesses things like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, writing and communication—essentially mimicking the baseline demands for professionals.
“These are the skills that are important no matter what you are doing; if you’re serving on a jury or looking for a good candidate to vote for, these are highly transferrable skills,” Ms. James said.
The test comes at a time of rising tuition and student debt and a broad rethinking of the value of a college degree in a changing job market. Last month, President Barack Obama spelled out plans for a college-rating system that aims to assess how well schools prepare students for the work world, among other criteria.
The 40% of students tested who didn’t meet a standard deemed “proficient” were unable to distinguish the quality of evidence in building an argument or express the appropriate level of conviction in their conclusion.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
So true, but the American people will never accept your logic here.
The university machine has a mission: to grow itself and provide sinecures for legions of professors and administrators.
Yeah, I missed the fact that she was a black female. Diversity is our strength. /s
When I was in law school in the 80’s, one of the students in my initial class was a black lady with her PhD in education. I don’t know how this poor black lady earned a PhD because she was completely overwhelmed.
Law schools teach via the Socratic Method and the professors are often ruthless. The moment weakness is detected, the more twisted professors double-down on the pressure and swoop in for the kill.
My contracts class was held in a large tiered lecture hall with about 100 students in each class. Typically she—the professor—would ask a question with the occasional quick follow-up. If you gave a reasonably coherent answer, she would move on and focus on someone else. But one particular day she made this black woman stand and answer for an entire class. She tied her in knots and had her confused, stuttering and crying. She utterly humiliated her. The next time class was held she asked her to stand again to resume the questions. The woman stood, grabbed her things, and never came back.
That black lady was one of roughly thirty unqualified students admitted to law school under an affirmative action program with a name like “Hope Scholars.” Not one of them graduated. Not one! Because of liberalism, qualified whites were passed over to give unqualified blacks a chance they hadn’t earned. What they did earn was stress, debt, and a record of failure sure to be a resume enhancer and confidence booster in later life.
My guess would be if you administer the same test to College Professors, they would probably test the same if not worse.
When I was actively interviewing for high level engineering jobs I had to take tests. I’m 60 and before two years ago never once took a test. My engineering degree and MBA along with an impressive resume and an interview did the trick. I was informed by my headhunter that most of his clients were doing the tests. What was tested? Math, mostly fractions, long division and logic problems. I’d say they topped out at 8th grade, but were mostly grammar school level; also, Reading comprehension, mostly at 8th grade level. One test had me write a few answers and I assume they were checking for coherence, grammar and spelling. The headhunter told me that many of the college graduates failed the tests. Due to grade inflation, social promotion and dilution of the various degrees companies now, rightly, believe that college degrees signify nothing. So, why do students waste $30,000 per year for four years? I’d say education is ripe for a revolution.
Incidentally, another reason for the tests being universally applied is so that the companies can’t be accused of prejudice. My Headhunter told me that one client, who is next door to our historically black college, had failed almost all of the black graduates who applied. However, their personnel turnover dropped by double digits.
1) The term "scatter plot" dates at least to the 1980s; I was using them the for analysis of a certain type of data and the technique was not new at the time.
2) Reading a scatter plot is not difficult, at least to first order and that's why
3) for some types of data it's an excellent way of displaying the data. It shows correlation between two parameters, and identifies clusters within that correlation.
4) "Simple" is a good thing for a data visualization technique.
So everyone can’t be smarter than average? Is that what they’re saying?
“The test doesn’t cover subject-area knowledge; rather it assesses things like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, writing and communication—essentially mimicking the baseline demands for professionals.”
Most professionals probably acquired the tested skills before they even entered college.
I know your usage is a lot more common but you do hear flop, plop, plot, squat, the ever usable pie, and of course many terms more descriptive and vulgar.
But you probably too have seen the community fundraiser events where they actually do graph out a kind of scatterplot, as if for a Bingo, with the ticketholder of the right plot winning the prize, etc...
In truth a student unable to manage a rating of basic should not even be graduating from High School.
Generally mathematical/statistical data points on a graph that might reveal trends based on concentration or direction of those points.
“Can you imagine what challenged neighborhoods will be like if everyone just hangs out for two more years, at the government’s expense? “
Yes. This plan for ‘free’ community college is pathetic at best.
Di longer you verk here, diverse it gets.
I believe these statistics, and one of the reasons I think Obama’s Community College plan is so ill advised is a lot of students take many remedial credit hours at Community College, just to get to the place where they can qualify for a college course through the placement test.
Way back when (35 years ago) my husband was in a trade that paid excellent money, however, he realized that due to some health issues he couldn’t be in that job for his entire career, so he went back to school. He attended a public tech school (i.e. not one of the private ones whose cost is outrageous) which offered a full time, 2 year degree in Technology. He has advamced far in his profession, and the companies he’s worked for, just as far as those with BA degrees and those with their graduate degrees.
But applying for the same entry level job he started at years ago, with just a tech degree, would not be possible today, the requirements list a college degree is necessary.
Our son earned his Master’s right after finishing his BA. In the end he was glad he did because the entry level job in the company and department where he works lists that as the minimum requirement for jobs in the department (the graduate degree is replacing the bachelor’s in many fields because the bachelor’s has been dumbed down.)
What I’m saying is that today, a tech degree will not allow a white collar worker to get their foot in the door. The Bachelor’s degree is listed as the minimum requirement for jobs that years ago would hire a Tech School grad. My husband does the hiring in his department and he always looks at experience before education, because he believes experience is commensurate with a college degree...unfortunately, many of those hiring do not.
“They’d be far better off with vocational courses”
Sorry, that’s not gonna fly because you can’t get degrees in Womyns Studies, African Studies, Nineteenth Century Transgender Lesbian Dance Theory and other such highly coveted degrees in vocational schools.
I thought that kind of testing had been ruled discriminatory in Griggs v. Duke Power? (That was the Supreme Court decision that began today’s trend of companies requiring college degrees for every position, necessary or not...just to prove some level of education and/or competence.)
“I thought that kind of testing had been ruled discriminatory in Griggs v. Duke Power?”
I thought it was discriminatory simply because, according to my headhunter, they disproportionately screened out blacks. I suppose the companies are somewhat protected by the fact that, in all cases, you have to take the test before they ever see you. I don’t know the ins-and-outs of the law and, it’s possible, neither do the companies requiring the tests. Incidentally, the tests were all independently administered and scored by a third party company and they also never get to see or talk to the candidate.
Oh, and another possibility, the tests were just on basic language, math and reasoning skills. There were no cultural questions which could be claimed as biased because black culture does not emphasize or expose its members to the same type of material as whites.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.