Good news: Study confirms that college is pretty much a total waste of time

[CactusCarlos]

You don’t even need to read the article; just follow the link and check out the graph in the left-hand sidebar.

What’s tuition up to these days at private universities, parents? About $30-35,000?

Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t make academics a priority, a new report shows.

Instructors tend to be more focused on their own faculty research than teaching younger students, who in turn are more tuned in to their social lives, according to the report, based on a book titled Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Findings are based on transcripts and surveys of more than 3,000 full-time traditional-age students on 29 campuses nationwide, along with their results on the Collegiate Learning Assessment, a standardized test that gauges students’ critical thinking, analytic reasoning and writing skills.

After two years in college, 45% of students showed no significant gains in learning; after four years, 36% showed little change.

Students also spent 50% less time studying compared with students a few decades ago, the research shows.

More: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/01/19/good-news-study-confirms-that-college-is-pretty-much-a-total-waste-of-time/

[vesta111]

More: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/01/19/good-news-study-confirms-that-college-is-pretty-much-a-total-waste-of-time/

Wait one minute here, ain't Colleges suppose to teach students HOW to learn ??  How to use the information they receive to be a stepping stone into a job and how to research into other areas.??

Good grief, Carlo, how times have changed.     Seems like the colleges of today are just an extention of Highschool in memorise this and and ask no questions. To get a grade today says one must agree with the Professors on what ever the subject.

Now the big question, why are our Colleges giving degrees in square dancing and basket weaving.??

[Evil_Conservative]

The price of tuition is the main reason I have not enrolled out in Las Vegas.  We paid for my college ourselves in Arizona.  I was doing all my general electives at the community college.  It was still expensive there.  About $1,100 for the tuition (one semester) and another $300 for books... all used.  It's just too much money.  If I want to learn something, I'll go to the library and read a book for free.

[DefiantSix]

It took me 8 years to finish my degree because I paid for it out of pocket.  I was also working in the field while I was taking the courses, and I'm sure my counsellor was a little perturbed that I tested out of at least a third of the courses because the school of hard knocks had already beaten that material into me.

[Wineslob]

Wait one minute here, ain't Colleges suppose to teach students HOW to learn ??  How to use the information they receive to be a stepping stone into a job and how to research into other areas.??

Vesta, look up "Indoctrinate U" on YouTube. You'll see what the "problem" is.

[Gratiot]

Unfortunately, it's generally more about the paper than the actual learning.  The paper will open doors, whether you can step in and succeed is more about the individual than the paper.