Post-Secondary Institutions Fail to Educate: What They Don’t Learn at College

Both in high schools and in universities, students are exposed to a variety of experiences, some designed to encourage social skills in the setting of collaborative learning, others designed to inflame their passions about various socio-political causes. Less emphasis is given to mastery of academic disciplines.

At times, some educational institutions try to create the impression that they are working toward mastery of content areas. In such cases, however, either serious content is soon watered down, or it turns out that, from the beginning, the content was not serious, but merely designed to seem so.

In some cases, alleged academic content turns out to be a few slogans and dogmas borrowed from social or political movements.

Students may finish their university careers with a variety of diplomas and degrees, scholar Tom Nichols writes, but

Still, the fact of the matter is that many of those American higher educational institutions are failing to provide to their students the basic knowledge and skills that form expertise. More important, they are failing to provide the ability to recognize expertise and to engage productively with experts and other professionals in daily life. The most important of these intellectual capabilities, and the one most under attack in American universities, is critical thinking: the ability to examine new information and competing ideas dispassionately, logically, and without emotional or personal preconceptions.

There is a double failure on the part of post-secondary institutions. First, they fail to deliver on the academic mastery of academic disciplines. Second, they fail to develop the skill of critical thinking.

As these deficits become greater and greater, the claims about educational excellence become all the louder. Ubiquitous are the assertions by colleges and universities that their students are gaining both specialized knowledge and skills related to critical thought.

To be sure, a good education is still available at many colleges and universities. But it will be obtained only by ignoring the guidance of some academic departments and all administrators. Students are persistently encouraged to engage in various activities which are not conducive to content area learning, and which are not conducive to truly critical thinking.

Hours spent in seminars about ‘awareness’ or ‘sensitivity’ do little to increase knowledge of particle physics or Greek grammar. Required courses in ‘cultural appropriation’ are not places in which the skill of critical thought can be sharpened.

Students who will be teachers - the future educators of the nation - are particularly shielded from various forms of serious learning. Pondering what most universities call the ‘school of education,’ scholar Robert Bork writes:

The problem was both that budding teachers of the young were allowed to avoid competition in the mastery of any subject matter and that educational faddishness — grading adults on class participation rather than knowledge — was apparent. The endless pursuit of fads is a way of avoiding conventional (bourgeois) methods and standards. A few years later, in a good private day school, my son was taught the “new math,” in which, supposedly, he would learn the rationale behind arithmetic rather than engage in such foolishness as rote learning of the multiplication tables. Meanwhile, Japanese children were learning the multiplication tables by rote, and ended up far ahead of American children in mathematics.

If a school engages exclusively, or nearly exclusively, in mere rote learning, then such a school is properly derided. Thus a madrasa relies almost entirely on rote learning; even schools which expanded slightly beyond the madrasa model, like Al Quaraouiyine, still relied on mechanical memorization until recent centuries.

While reason rightly rejects institutions which rely solely or largely on rote memory, it is also clear that some amount of factual knowledge is necessary. In the rejection of education which consists exclusively of rote learning, reason does not swing to opposite extreme and reject all factual information.

Critical thinking is a skill which is reasonably practiced on a body of knowledge. One must know the data of history in order to reason about history. One must know the data of chemistry in order to reason about chemistry.

Sadly, instead of being taught how to think, many students are being taught what to think. The titles of seminars, classes, and courses at many universities read like a laundry list of contemporary socio-political causes and concerns, not like a list of stimulating intellectual explorations.

Students themselves are often aware of whether or not they are learning something of value in a given class or course. The life of the mind is at its best when it consists both of factual knowledge and of thinking skills. In short, students should ‘know that’ and ‘know how’ - they should master the data of a body of knowledge, and they should know how to analyze and synthesize such data.

Postsecondary Achievement: Lowering the Educational Bar

At one time, attending college was not a common experience. Even graduating from high school in, e.g., the year 1900, was not an automatic assumption. Generally, only those students who demonstrated both diligence and academic aptitude were encouraged to apply for college admission.

Usually, only those students driven by curiosity wanted to apply.

It is easy for postmodern observers to call this system elitist or meritocratic. Perhaps it was. This system, however, also recognized the reality that different people have different levels of motivation and ability.

In some aspects, educational systems have since become egalitarian. The word ‘egalitarian’ has meanwhile become the object of dispute: does it mean to give equal opportunities, or does it mean to ensure equal status? The question applies to ‘equal’ and ‘equity’ - is the task to give people the same chances, or it is to ensure that they all arrive at the same status?

In any case, colleges and universities now seek to address the broad population. Admissions policies become ever more ‘inclusive’ and the college experience inclines more toward training and less toward education.

In place of education, students put a great deal of time and energy into the college experience. This ‘experience’ can mean a passionate dedication to sociopolitical trends, or it can mean making friends and building networks of acquaintances the for purposes of either business or recreational.

But this experience is not about the thorough exploration of text, or about wrestling with systems of ideas. As scholar Tom Nichols writes,

Today, attendance at postsecondary institutions is a mass experience. As a result of this increased access to higher education, the word “college” itself is losing meaning, at least in terms of separating educated people from everyone else. “College graduate” today means a lot of things. Unfortunately, “a person of demonstrated educational achievement” is not always one of them.

Since the two words ‘educational’ and ‘achievement’ are no longer the bull’s eye for many educational institutions, these institutions no longer feel the need to measure achievement. What they instead measure, and what they instead call ‘success,’ is often mere conformity.

This diversion from the university’s original intended course is compounded when this lack of education is imposed upon future educators. This happens at what most universities call the ‘School of Education,’ which often is neither a school, nor has it much to do with education.

If those who would be teachers are not allowed or encouraged to see the critical yet appreciative exploration of text as the center of the educational enterprise, what hope is there that these future educators will be able to impart rigorous analytical skills to their students?

If future teachers don’t explore and wrestle with several thousand years’ worth of civilization’s texts and ideas, what hope is there that they will be able to teach their students to reflect on, or contemplate, these texts and ponder their relative merits?

Instead, the ‘School of Education’ keeps its students busy with all kinds of activity, few or none of which place text at the center of the life of the mind. As scholar Robert Bork writes,

An egalitarian educational system is necessarily opposed to meritocracy and reward for achievement. It is inevitably opposed to procedures that might reveal differing levels of achievement. In the spring of 1953, as I left our apartment house for the last of a series of grueling law school exams, I met a young woman I knew to be in the school of education. I sympathized with her about how hard she must have been studying. She said she had studied not at all since there were no examinations. “How can they grade you, then?” “We are graded on class participation.” That struck me as preposterous, but the full dimensions of the calamity such a philosophy portended did not then occur to me.

‘Meritocratic’ and ‘elitist’ are not synonyms, and in some situations are actually opposed to each other. The purpose of a university ought to be that it guides and encourages students in rigorous exploration of text and in exploring historic ideas. This is how education differs from training.

Law and medicine, for example, were structured as postgraduate studies because the undergraduate work was supposed to sharpen the mind and fill it with a generous catalogue of ideas and logical skills. The undergraduate foundation was generic: it was shared cultural heritage and the inclination for critical and analytical thought. The graduate training was specific and applied.

The undergraduate foundation was neither applied nor practical: consider the trivium and quadrivium of the first universities. The undergraduate work was essential to allow students to pursue, if they wished, applied and practical training in law or medicine at the graduate level.

The first universities arose shortly after the year 1000, and for nearly a millennia did their work on this pattern. They produced a steady stream of great minds, great ideas, and great texts.

It is a great irony that the postmodern educational establishment speaks often of ‘critical thinking skills’ while producing graduates who are incapable of critical thinking. Consider for a moment that the phrase came into usage via the works of Immanuel Kant. Which students are familiar with Kant, his works, or his ideas? Or even his ideas as found in the thought of another?

The postmodern university has lost some things, and cannot offer these things to its students. It gives them training without first giving them education. It fails to give them a vision of text as the center of the life of the mind. It fails to teach them thinking which is contemplative, reflective, critical, and appreciative.

Looking Back: German Day 2018

On Friday, March 23, 2018, the University of Michigan’s German Department once again invited high school students to participate and compete in the annual German Day event on campus. Several thousand students came from high schools throughout Michigan.

Representatives from the Ann Arbor Public Schools once again proved themselves to be noteworthy. From Slauson Middle School, students arrived with their teacher Denise Socher. From Tappan Middle School, teacher Danielle Capitan brought her students.

Two teachers, Robert Lederer and Astrid Tackett, brought students from Pioneer High School. Huron High School students arrived with their teacher, Andrew Smith.

The AAPS students won a number of prizes in first, second, and third places, as well as “honorable mention” medals. For several consecutive years, AAPS students have left the competition with many medals.

A special award was given to Robert Leder from Pioneer High School. He was named German Teacher of the Year by the U of M’s German Department. German teachers around the state have a profound respect for Robert.

As is usually the case, the Ann Arbor students were the only participants to arrive at the event by foot. Students from Huron High School, led by Andrew Smith, had the longest trip: 2.8 miles.

AAPS German Classes to Chicago: Huron, Pioneer, Slauson, and Tappan

Once again, those students in the Ann Arbor Public Schools who are enrolled in a German class were invited to attend Chicago’s Christkindlmarkt. The City of Chicago organizes an annual Christmas market on Daley Plaza.

This market re-creates a central European outdoor holiday market.

On Friday, December 15, 2018, a fleet of charter buses carried students from Huron High School, Pioneer High School, Slauson Middle School, and Tappan Middle School to Chicago. The students were accompanied by their teachers - Danielle Capitan, Robert Lederer, Andrew Smith, Denise Socher, and Astrid Tackett - as well as a group of volunteer parent chaperones.

The group left Ann Arbor between 7:45 and 8:00 in the morning. A good time was had by all. They returned late in the evening on that same date.

Danielle Capitan teaches at Tappan Middle School; Robert Lederer and Astrid Tackett teach at Pioneer High School; Andrew Smith teaches at Huron High School; Denise Socher teaches at Slauson Middle School.

Increasing Levels of Emotional Impairment: Their Causes

Readers will have read about upward trends concerning depression, dysphoria, and anxiety among teenagers in the United States during the first two decades of the twenty-first century.

Special education teachers report that “emotionally impaired” (EI) students are an increasing percentage of their caseloads. Psychiatric medication and inpatient stays for mental health reasons are common.

Any exploration of the causes behind this trend will be complex and multifactorial.

Unlike learning disabilities (e.g., dyslexia), or developmental conditions (e.g., ASD), emotional impairment is significantly shaped by environmental factors.

To be sure, learning disabilities and developmental conditions are affected by environmental factors to some extent, and one should not overstate the impact of environmental factors on emotional impairment.

One way, among others, in which the social environment shapes emotional impairment is in the failure of micro-environment (nuclear family) or of the macro-environment (the larger community) to provide clear life paths and social roles for the individual.

The failure of society to provide these shaping forces is, by itself, not a cause of EI, but rather can be an occasion upon which EI will manifest itself in an individual who has other factors which predispose for EI.

Faced with a social existence in which expectations are unclear, absent, or only weakly reinforced, a latent EI may manifest itself. Developmentally, teenagers are asking about what they will be and what they will do.

If society fails to provide norms and standards for individual identities and life choices, then the individual is forced to rely more on internal personal strengths. If those strengths are lacking, or are misinformed, EI may emerge.

The rise in EI is coextensive with, and correlates to, a decline in clearly articulated social roles and expectations provided to the individual in the form of a normative life trajectory. As is well-known, however, correlation does not necessarily indicate causation.

Social norms are provided in the forms of propositional assertion about roles, norms, and life trajectory. But norms are also communicated by examples. Teenagers observe adults.

Individual stability is undermined, then, both by society’s failure to clearly state its norms and roles, and by adults who fail to function as examples. In such an environment, then, EI is more likely to emerge.

Accelerated Academic Trajectories: Too Much, Too Soon?

In the last decade or two, innovations have been introduced into the American educational landscape which allow high school students to earn college credit hours before matriculating at a university: dual enrollment has been made easier because colleges and universities have launched their own charter schools.

Even before these developments, there were other dual enrollment options, and credits given from Advanced Placement (AP) exams. The AP program dates back to the 1950s.

But the number, variety, and availability of these opportunities has increased significantly in recent years. Another option is credit hours earned by taking International Baccalaureate (IB) exams.

The result can be understood by a concrete example. A student who attended a charter school operated by a local community college was able to graduate, at age 18, with enough college credits so that she started at a local university the three months later as junior. After only two years at that university, she graduated with what is normally a ‘four-year’ degree.

The acceleration continued when she found a ‘twelve-month’ graduate program: a Master’s Degree which normally requires two full academic years can be earn in one calendar year.

At age 21, then, she entered the workforce with her newly-minted Master’s Degree. Under the traditional system, such a degree isn’t earned until age 24.

Parents in such cases are both proud of their child’s academic savvy and happy with the tuition dollars saved. But is there a downside to these types of programs?

Although the student avoided three years of time and tuition dollars, there is a question about life learning. Education can be accelerated; experience can’t.

Assuming that the education is the same, what’s the difference between a 21-year-old and 24-year-old? Ceterus paribus, three year’s worth of reality.

In professions related to healthcare, or in negotiating contracts, the three extra years of living might be an asset important to potential employers.

To be sure, there remains the question of student debt and three years’ worth of tuition. But there may be creative solutions.

A few semesters at a local community college can be had for a fraction of the cost of time spent at major universities. For the student who’s at risk for graduating too early, this might be a solution.

Another option would be part-time student status combined with a part-time job. This arrangement would provide some income to offset the extra years of tuition.

In any case, it’s worth considering that education is not simply a race to the diploma or a race to the job market. Maturation can’t be arbitrarily accelerated.

Physical Fitness: Possibly the New Sport?

There is little need to convince any reasonably well-read citizen that physical exercise is important for young people. We all know that students in both elementary and secondary schools should engage in some type of movement on a regular basis, preferable outdoors.

But there is reason to challenge the common assumption that being part of a high school athletic program is good way to get exercise.

Being part of a team often, although not always, ensures some amount of physical fitness. The delivery of that benefit can, however, be enormously inefficient.

A student may spend several hours a day in, e.g., a football or basketball practice. But that does not mean that he’s spending several hours in strenuous physical exercise.

In such teams, players might sit for a long time on bleachers, listening to the coach talk about strategy and tactics. They spend time standing line, waiting for their turn at various drills or relay activities.

During practices, players receive instructions from athletic trainers or physical therapists about injury prevention, and they spend time organizing fundraisers. They may have to wait to use various pieces of exercise equipment.

A three- or four-hour practice does not, therefore, mean that a student had three or four hours of physical exercise.

By contrast, a merely 20 to 30 minutes of running, swimming, or bicycling is a much more time-efficient way to deliver physical fitness. Likewise, a similar amount of time spent in calisthenics is an effective program to obtain a significant amount of exercise in short period of time.

Perhaps the time has come, in the culture of American secondary schools, to place more emphasis on physical fitness and less emphasis on organized team sports.