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College Seniors No More Knowledgeable Than 1950s High School Grads
CNSNEWS.com ^ | 12/19/02 | Scott Hogenson

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.





TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: educationnews
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To: PJ-Comix
That's another habit of cynicom that I notice. Whenever he starts getting as good as he gives, he blows us off and tells us curtly to "have a nice day."

Anyway, upon re-reading the thread, I do regret the wording of my initial reply that set cynicom and others off. I did not mean to insinuate that everybody who went to high school in the 1950s became pot-smoking hippies in the 1960s.

My way of going about it was wrong but I wanted to make the point that many people do tend see the past (especially their past) through rose-colored glasses. That is to say, that they believe that their generation was the greatest whereas "the kids of today" are so inferior to them. That was the attitude I was trying to attack.

The 1950s era had its societal problems and faults too. It was not the perfect and "idyllic" time that many would have you believe it be. I think if anybody thinks long and hard about it, they would not want to go back to that era. (Especially when you consider that the 1970s was still lurking ahead!).

Many comments are made about how this new generation of kids coming up is going to ruin America. I do not go along with that way of thinking. I think there are a lot of bright kids out there who are going to do great things. Also, the people making these comments shouldn't be so smug. After all, it was the 1950s generation that played a major part in the socialist "Great Society" that took root in the 1960s and still plagues us to this day.

181 posted on 12/19/2002 10:26:50 AM PST by SamAdams76
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To: stainlessbanner
From the raw .PDF:

"An overwhelming 73% of students say their professors are teaching one major theory on ethics: that what is right and wrong depends on individual values and diversity."

I think it's crap like this that we have to worry about the most. One intern at my company with whom I spoke told me that he wanted to work for the FBI or CIA. I asked him if he thought the ends justified the means. He thought they did.

Raw Data

182 posted on 12/19/2002 10:29:25 AM PST by jjm2111
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To: Axenolith
I haven't used cursive since the 8th grade. I hated it. I print everything and it's much neater.
183 posted on 12/19/2002 10:33:22 AM PST by jjm2111
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To: Psycho_Bunny
George Frideric Handel - Messiah

I did a Google search and got the above heading off of a website for the Oratorio. I'm supposed to be working so didn't have much time. You might find something of interest. BTW, you are absolutely right about music copyists, so the addition of "The" has always surprised me.
184 posted on 12/19/2002 10:36:37 AM PST by Bahbah
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To: 1L
"There is a reason schools should require the reading of Homer's Illiad and Odeysey (among others); there is a reason students should memorize Shakespeare, Poe, and even Walt Williams; there is a reason why students graduating high school should be competent in science and math. It may or may not make them better computer programmers, but it will make them more productive citizens. "


Yeah, but they might think for themselves Damm-t. Our socialist masters wouldn't want THAT.
185 posted on 12/19/2002 10:39:33 AM PST by jjm2111
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To: Nita Nuprez
Thank you for your compliment. ;-)

See, I knew you didn't hate me. You could have done that complement(sic) thing. Thanks for not doing it.

Hank

186 posted on 12/19/2002 10:39:34 AM PST by Hank Kerchief
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To: gaspar
Sam Adams, you yourself have a poor grasp of history! The fifties were not a time of pot-smoking, acid-dropping, and hip-hopping. It was the first generation in American history whose students, born of working parents, could study and grasp the opportunity that higher education offered.

I've seen the footage of Woodstock and the rest of the 60s. It wasn't just high school kids who were smoking the pot and living in communes, etc. There were plenty of people in their 20s and 30s too, which places them in high school in the 1950s. I've recently read books by Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson about hippie life and the Hell's Angels in the mid-1960s. I think 1965 was the key year for both books. The main characters in these books were already in their late 20s and early 30s. That means that they were products of the 1950s. That is, they were in high school during the 1950s.

I'm not trying to make an agenda with those facts. Just wanted to rebut your statement that I have a poor grasp on history.

187 posted on 12/19/2002 10:43:30 AM PST by SamAdams76
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To: SoCal Pubbie
Thanks for an excellent post. You conveyed in nicer words what I have been trying to get across. I wanted to bring up the issue with blacks but decided not to. But since it has been raised, let me comment upon it. During the 1950s in the South, blacks were by and large not allowed to shop or eat with whites or even use the same bathrooms and water fountains. They were treated like garbage. And while things were better up north, it was still no picnic being a black person. So while I am not black myself, if I were, I would be very insulted to have people try to tell me that the 1950s was a paradise on Earth.
188 posted on 12/19/2002 10:49:24 AM PST by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76
And what did the students of the 1950s end up doing with their lives?

Creating the groundwork and doing the heavy intellectual lifting so that the geniuses of today could surf the net.

189 posted on 12/19/2002 10:50:02 AM PST by Protagoras
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To: conservativemusician
Hitler was a student of Prussian history?

I haven't read Hitler's Mein Kampf, but from what little I know, his "thinking" was heavily influenced by German philosophy. I think fascism in general can be traced from Fichte through Hegel and Heidegger. It's no coincidence that Fichte's maxim ended up over the gates of Aushwitz.

Hegel's historicism was particularly important. Hegel divinized the historical process. In his weird philosophy, God was "becoming" through history, a process which would ultimately reach a divine end. The State was also deified in his worldview. Hegel's philosophy in particular gave rise to the "dialectical materialism" and historicism of communism and the State-worship of fascism.

190 posted on 12/19/2002 10:57:46 AM PST by Aquinasfan
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To: Hank Kerchief
<< See, I knew you didn't hate me. You could have done that complement(sic) thing. Thanks for not doing it. >>

LOL! You're welcome.

Just don't tell anyone. It may ruin my reputation or something.)

191 posted on 12/19/2002 11:09:41 AM PST by Nita Nuprez
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To: SamAdams76
I'm coming into this late and haven't read all the comments, so take that into consideration.

It's my understanding that, unlike the "hippies" of the 60's, the 50's rebels were "beatnicks" and were relatively rare except in the bigger cities.
192 posted on 12/19/2002 11:15:39 AM PST by Nita Nuprez
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To: freedumb2003
LOL!!!! i especially love it when he has TEACHERS on! (but it IS scary)
193 posted on 12/19/2002 11:23:33 AM PST by 1john2 3and4
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To: Hank Kerchief
....probably do not know what an oratorio is.

they're makin taco-flavored oreos now? what's next?

194 posted on 12/19/2002 11:26:59 AM PST by 1john2 3and4
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To: Congressman Billybob
1892 Salina Kansas 8th Grade Test.
195 posted on 12/19/2002 11:35:40 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: Aquinasfan
Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary?

Main Entry: gull·ible Variant(s): also gull·able /'g&-l&-b&l/ Function: adjective Date: 1818 : easily duped or cheated - gull·ibil·i·ty /"g&-l&-'bi-l&-tE/ noun - gull·ibly /'g&-l&-blE/ adverb

196 posted on 12/19/2002 11:38:23 AM PST by Temple Owl
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To: Rebelbase
"1892 Salina Kansas 8th Grade Test"

According to snopes this is an urban legend http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm

(didnt meen to freep mail ya that - punched the wrong button)
197 posted on 12/19/2002 11:38:59 AM PST by freedumb2003
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To: Aquinasfan
"Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary? "

Did you think we would believe you? How gullible do you think we are? ;)

Try: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=gullible
198 posted on 12/19/2002 11:41:12 AM PST by freedumb2003
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To: freedumb2003
Thank the good Lord for Merriam-Webster. I'm on a roll. LOL

Main Entry: or·a·to·rio Pronunciation: "or-&-'tOr-E-"O, "är-, -'tor- Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ri·os Etymology: Italian, from the Oratorio di San Filippo Neri (Oratory of Saint Philip Neri) in Rome Date: circa 1738 : a lengthy choral work usually of a religious nature consisting chiefly of recitatives, arias, and choruses without action or scenery

199 posted on 12/19/2002 11:48:21 AM PST by Temple Owl
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To: freedumb2003
Duh-OH!....Dang, If I were a fish I'd be someone's supper by now.
200 posted on 12/19/2002 11:57:55 AM PST by Rebelbase
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