Posted on 12/19/2002 3:08:50 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - The college seniors of today have no better grasp of general knowledge than the high school graduates of almost half a century ago, according to the results of a new study.
The average of correct responses for modern college seniors on a series of questions assessing "general cultural knowledge" was 53.5 percent compared with 54.5 percent of high school graduates in 1955, according to a survey by Zogby International.
The Zogby poll of 401 randomly selected college seniors was conducted in April for the Princeton, N.J.-based National Association of Scholars and released Wednesday.
"The average amount of knowledge that college seniors had was just about the same as the average amount of knowledge that high school graduates had back in the 1950s," said NAS President Stephen H. Balch.
Balch noted that the high school grads of half a century ago performed better than today's college seniors on history questions, while contemporary students fared better on questions covering art and literature, with no appreciable difference on geography questions.
The questions asked in the April poll by Zogby were virtually the same as questions asked by the Gallup Organization in 1955, with a few questions being slightly modified to reflect history.
"The questions were just about identical, as identical as we could make them," said Balch. "In most cases, they were absolutely identical."
Balch attributed the stagnation of performance on general knowledge questions to several factors, including a decreased emphasis on general knowledge in high school, placing colleges and universities in the position of having to fill academic gaps among students entering college.
"This is fundamental knowledge that everyone should have and if your students are being admitted without it, then that only reinforces the need for you to take general education seriously," Balch said.
But Balch said he didn't consider such actions to be remedial in nature, noting that "the remedial problems have to do with students not being able to write or read at the eighth grade level and still getting into college. There are many institutions in which that's a difficulty. You have people who just don't have the skills let alone the knowledge."
Even though the NAS study raises questions about the caliber of general education offered in high schools, colleges and universities also bear some responsibility, Balch said.
"I think it probably has a lot to do with the dumbing down of curriculum, both at the college and high school level," said Balch. "It looks good, certainly, to say 'more people are graduating from college,' but is there any real intellectual yield from it?"
Also part of the problem is that many colleges are placing less emphasis on liberal arts education in favor of more specialized education geared toward specific career paths, which Balch said isn't necessarily in the best interest of students or society.
"I think these results, which don't seem to show a great deal of value-added in the general cultural knowledge domain - I think these results are quite interesting and disappointing," said Balch. "We would hope that the college students of today would have done a good deal better than the high school students of the past."
Also contributing to the trend is an easing of college admissions standards. While Balch doesn't advocate a return to standards requiring competency in Greek or Latin, he does say colleges should "insist that the student coming have basic areas of knowledge."
A solid background in general knowledge, Balch said, is "very important both for good citizenship and, for many people at least, for a happy and interesting life," by providing students with what Balch called "cultural furniture that allows them to be better citizens."
Click here to read the general knowledge questions.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
Well, I am old, in the 30s, if you did not write, you did not pass. Everyone learned how to write cursive. Perhaps it was all wrong but it was mandatory, we all did it, and I think it has been a great help in communications for many years.
Learning to write was one of the requirements.
I remember that, too.
Can you imagine? Tuition at the University of California school system was little more than $100 a year. State schools like San Jose State and Fresno State, were just a little more. The explosion of junion colleges (not the ersatz community colleges of today) were affordable, and were often the preferred means of beginning the route to a BA. Thus the fifties generation was the most highly educated group of young people in American history.
The difference between then and now is that those students cherished their opportunity to advance. Today's kids think higher education is a right, as is the right not to fail. It is a significant difference.
Oh, and by the way, a "student loan" was unheard of, and "working one's way through college" was so common it was taken for granted.
Having been a kid in the '50s, and living in the same town, with a lot of the same people, (and now their grandchildren) I wouldn't trade places.
We walked to town after school to the drug store and played the jukebox for a nickel. We drank cokes; didn't snif it. Today the drug stores with fountains are gone; if they were there the kids wouldn't walk to them. We enjoyed being kids with no pressure to be little adults. We stole watermelons out of the field at night!
I remember seeing a TV for the first time; having an air-conditioned house and car for the first time.I have a brother 14 years my junior. Things changed drastically during the years I graduated from high school and when he did in '71. I wouldn't have traded places with him.
The 50s were just a good time for everybody--kids and adults alike. (All other things considered) The time between Korea and Viet Nam. It was the best of times.
And we had a president who spent most of his time playing golf and having heart-attacks.
"Better opportunities" is relative. Like kids today, we had the opportunity to be anything we wanted to be and had the smarts to be.
I understand your point about "rose-colored glasses" but with the 50s, I think it was more than that. It was the "calm before the storm." Better known as the 60s. LOL!
Nowadays, it is based on the trivial [/rimshot]
I noticed that one too. Creepy, isn't it?
We were smart enough not to have telemarketers! :)
Now you know why I hate when the Today Show broadcasts its "Where In The World Is Matt Lauer?" bilge.
But what was with those HORRIBLE haircuts? Take a look at the old pics. In the early 50s they had quite good haircuts but sometime in the mid to late 50s, all of a sudden there was a plethora of those horrible short crewcuts. The worst were the flattop haircuts with that "white skunk tail" down the middle.
You were expected to have a broader education back then, but for now, it can be a hinderance. If you are taking electives in humanities, while your potential competitor is loading up on the hard science classes, you may be more rounded, but they may have better real world tools to compete with you for a job.
Sure, your personality might suffer, but that is what the Liberal Arts grads in the Human Resources are there for to smooth out ;)
Btw, I knew all 15 answers, and yes, I was a liberal arts major.
That's because President Jackson back then put such an emphasis on good penmanship.
It's really strange. If you look at the photos of the early 50s almost all the men had really good haircuts. Then suddenly sometime in the mid 50s all those horrible ultra-short haircuts kicked in. Virtually ALL jocks back then started wearing crewcuts or flattops. Maybe it was the Johnny Unitas influence?
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.