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For students to aim high, colleges must set the standards
At the first-ever meeting of state education executives from both the K-12 and Higher Education sectors, the decay of the core curriculum was the elephant in the room. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that higher education leaders complained, as they often do, that the K-12 system does not produce enough graduates ready to do college-level work. The reality is, however, that most colleges themselves fail to define what "college-level" learning is. When asked what it means to be a college graduate, higher education offers fine rhetoric, but few facts and seldom a clear answer. The K-12 system can't be blamed for missing the target when higher education refuses to set one.
For example, our research for WhatWillTheyLearn.com has revealed that, many colleges do not require serious math classes, opting instead for easier courses that go under titles like "Mathematical Ideas" or "Math for Daily Living." Why should a high-school senior trouble himself with pre-calculus? After all, he may reason, if math were important, State U would require a serious class in it. Or consider foreign languages: at one time, students knew that colleges would be expecting them to do serious foreign-language work, and would prepare accordingly. Today, most colleges say that students who pass two years of high school Spanish don't need to do anything more.
When colleges lower their standards and dumb down the core, they take away one of the main motivations for students to excel in high school in the first place. In contrast, if colleges and universities were to make it clear that incoming students will be required to do serious work in the core subjects and articulate those standards, they would likely find a willing partner in the K-12 system.
Posted by Eric Markley on July 22, 2010 at July 22, 2010 09:29 AM
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