|
|
|
Don't Know Much About History . . . (Blog Menu)
The Coming Crisis in CitizenshipThat which is important gets measured. A simple axiom that has been taken to heart by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, founded in 1953 to further in successive generations of American college youth a better understanding of the economic, political, and ethical values that sustain a free and humane society. It is the ISI's intention to continually measure the effectiveness of the teaching of American history, civics, and economics in America's colleges.
Why do this?
The Intercollegiate Studies Institute will tell you two things: the vitality and stability of democratic politics are threatened by a lack of participation by Americans, and participation correlates with comprehension of American history, civics, and economics. And based on a recent scientifically valid study of over 14,000 randomly chosen college freshman and seniors at 50 carefully chosen colleges and universities, America is in real danger of going the way of the Roman Empire, if we don't turn our students around academically.
The study's findings were shocking. Of the 50 colleges and universities studied, there was no correlation with institutional prestige and academic success in the disciplines measured. In fact, many of the Ivy League schools tested at the bottom with what the report referred to as "negative learning" in the areas of interest, while some unassuming colleges showed surprising strengths.
It is not my intention to regurgitate the study here. The Web is a wonderful instrument for connecting those of you with more than cursory interest in this subject with the methodology and the detailed findings: (CLICK HERE TO READ THE DETAILS OF THE ISI'S STUDY). Instead, it is my intention to comment on the four findings point by point.
FINDING 1: America's colleges and universities fail to increase knowledge about American's history and institutions.
MY COMMENT: Teacher competency is reflected in student competency and student competency exams should be mandatory throughout primary, secondary and college education. I am not a teacher, so I can reflect on this issue with less prejudice or defensiveness than if I were one, although do I work in a college environment. I have taught in the classroom in the past and enjoyed it, but I am by temperament a manager. Performance of managers is constantly measured in many ways. In commercial radio, the measurement is financial success (profits); in non-commercial radio the measurements involve financial success manifested by audience cumes/contributions, staff size, and budgets. In fact, the two most important questions for aspiring managers in interviews are "how large is your staff (is it growing) and what is your budget?" All of these are quantitative measures, something both college and high school teachers are increasingly familiar with. My younger brother is a public school teacher in Florida where merit pay and bonuses are based on student assessment through standardized testing. Teachers complain that testing is onerous, but important things get measured, as our axiom dictates, and what students take away from the classroom is important. Thus, student achievement testing is important, especially since concerns about upwardly spiraling college costs in Missouri and elsewhere calls into question what taxpayers (and their children) are getting for their money.
Why colleges are failing to increase knowledge about America's history and institution is not as important as turning this trend around. Testing by the ISI will tell teachers if progress is being made in the future.
FINDING 2: Prestige doesn't pay off.
MY COMMENT: Since "negative learning" was discovered in testing at some of the nation's best universities, the question that first comes to my mind: Is civic participation actually important in the academic missions of these prestige schools? In preparation for my radio examination of this topic, I talked with Provost Charlotte Borst, the chief academic officer at ISI's first-ranked Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Borst contends that all colleges have civic participation as part of their missions. Ironically, while Yale, Duke and Brown were all found wanting in the study's assessment of their students' understanding of civics, the broader reputations of these schools put some of their students at the head of civic/governmental institutions. In the end, prestige does pay off, though not in the way ISI would likely find acceptable.
FINDING 3: Students don't learn what colleges don't teach.
MY COMMENT: Students need more courses in American history, civics, and economics, according to ISI. Also, students need teachers that excel at teaching. Taking the latter issue first, the more prestigious the institution, the less likely college teachers are noted for teaching. "Publish or perish" is the banshee cry of academia where research and chasing grant money take center stage. The author of that prestigious book in the discipline often has a coterie of graduate assistants to actually teach classes below the graduate level where most American history and civics courses are taught.
As for taking more courses in American history, civics, and economics, academic departments struggle with balancing their "major" requirements with the number of hours required in general education. Finishing a baccalaureate program in four years is becoming difficult for many, so additional history and civics course without a reduction in departmental major requirements is problematic. Extending undergraduate study into a fifth or even sixth year is adding to the inflated cost of college. As pointed out by Provost Borst, pre-law or pre-med students may have the luxury of taking additional courses in history, but other majors may be more strait-jacketed by major requirements in the overall credit hour schema.
FINDING 4: Greater civic learning goes hand-in-hand with more active citizenship.
MY COMMENT: In recent months, we have witnessed immigrant protesters waiving the Mexican flag in response to the call for greater border security and consistent immigration policy. In the past few decades, education leaders have proposed educational reforms in teaching American history and civics that have actually made for a more fractious America. Can educators be counted on to teach core American values through rigorous examination of American history and civics? Or will we someday raise generations that perceive George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and James Madison as the architects of someone else's America? And will these people participate productively in its governmental functions? This, in part, is the coming crisis noted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
As always, we'd like your reaction, the e-mail address is .
88.7KXMS is an international cultural resource of Missouri Southern State University