This raises the question of whether college students are sufficiently learning the topics they’re being taught—or whether universities have begun giving out rubber-stamp degrees. The fact is, college students seem to know much less in general today than they did 30 years ago. A 2012 study found that less than 5 percent of college students knew that Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson, that Marie Curie discovered radium, or who wrote “Sherlock Holmes” or “Brave New World.” The study also found that far fewer students today know that Paris is the capital of France, compared with students in 1980.
Because our society requires a bachelor’s degree for many jobs, many students arrive at college who have little interest in the pursuit of knowledge or even gaining expertise in a given field. They just need to get their diploma so they can get a half-decent job. So it should come as no surprise that they devote so little time to their studies, and have so much difficulty following through with assigned coursework. Only 60 percent of college students who enrolled in a four-year college in 2008 earned their degree within six years. How can it be this difficult to complete a four-year program, especially in light of the continuing increase in grade inflation?
Part of the problem is that campuses today are much more than a place to take classes. They are full of so many distracting activities that students often forget coursework is the primary reason they are there. Climbing walls, sporting events, fraternities and sororities, and countless other activities make it easy for students to be absorbed in anything but their classes. I’ve often heard students complain about how exhausted and busy they are—mainly because of their extra-curricular activities.
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