Timeline for Why has the time spent studying declined so sharply in the United States over the the past few decades?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
15 events
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| Jan 13, 2016 at 17:22 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @Drew Yes. Like I've said in another comment, the United States has its priorities backwards when it comes to education. Constant reductions in federal and state funding cause cuts in academic programs (such as music or foreign languages) in K-12, lack of support in pre-school programs for working parents, financial burden at the university level, and an overall reduced effectiveness and even interest in education. The U.S. needs to take a page out of Europe's handbook; this is one reason why I would without hesitation move to Europe - for the academic future of my (future) children. | |
| Jan 13, 2016 at 16:50 | comment | added | Drew | @ChrisCirefice: Yes. And like so many other short-sighted and self-centered Americanisms ($$$ in elections, medical care, retirement support, gun control,...), this one is specific to the US. Other countries pay for free education for all using taxes (and the taxes are raised more progressively). What the US does for K-12, in terms of public funding, other countries do for preschool and higher education as well. There is nothing new or unusual about this - the world's democracies have been doing it for decades. | |
| Jan 13, 2016 at 15:07 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | @Drew The fact that most public universities (at least in the state of Michigan; see my university's budget for example, page 13), receive less than 15% of their budget from the state and none from the federal government, it's not hard to imagine why they have to recompense 50% of their operating revenue from tuition. The lack of federal and state funding puts the burden ($15k/year) on the students, and since a bachelor's degree is essentially required nowadays, where does that leave students... | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 21:20 | comment | added | Drew | With some exaggeration, today's 4-year college is yesterday's high school. And what was available as public education is now bought at a high price from private (and even from public) colleges and universities. This is just one part of a 35 year trend toward privatization (in the US). All of the other things discussed (Internet etc.) apply to Europe etc. as well, but the problem raised is specifically American. (IOW, it ain't the Internet that's to blame.) | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 19:59 | comment | added | reirab | Yes. This is the correct answer. Roughly the top two-thirds of American students go to college now. In the 1960s, it was more like 20% (actually, that's probably a generous estimate.) Obviously, the top 20% of students are, on average, more studious than the top 67%. By 2003, the percentage of Americans who had attended at least some college was higher than the percentage of Americans students who had graduated high school in 1961. | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 17:31 | comment | added | Raphael | @Ian Yes, and I wish that were still true for most students. :/ Fact is, you (as a teacher, university offical or politician) can no longer assume a self-motivated student intrinsically interested in the material. Well, you can, but then your failure rates will go through the roof (if you maintain standards). Since there are all kinds of pressures for that not to happen, well... | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 17:29 | comment | added | Ian | @Raphael, going to university used to be about leaning, getting a degree was just seen as a nice side effect... | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 17:24 | comment | added | Raphael | @Ian When I wrote "busywork" I thought of assignments that the interested students were doing and the other not in the context of the certified standard the university establishes -- which is passing all courses. Of course you benefit from some (not all!) extra work. | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 17:23 | comment | added | Ian | @Raphael, as I was an "interested student", I studies things that I know would not be on the exam, and read research papers for fun... So is leaning more then is needed to pass while at university "busywork"? | |
| Jan 11, 2016 at 9:56 | comment | added | Raphael | Follow-up question: are these uninterested students still successful? If so, why? Do the motivated students just do busywork? How does the extra effort relate to success? (Not that answering these questions should be answered here, just to provoke some thought.) | |
| Jan 10, 2016 at 17:56 | history | edited | Alexander Woo | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
deleted 4 characters in body
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| Jan 10, 2016 at 9:33 | comment | added | John K. | Much less not true? More true? | |
| Jan 10, 2016 at 9:14 | comment | added | Chris Cirefice | I agree with this; as a college student I see this all the time. It's sad, but that's reality. However, there is another perspective that should be explored - the academic that wants to study but simply can't; I explore this in my answer as an anecdote. | |
| S Jan 9, 2016 at 21:01 | history | answered | Alexander Woo | CC BY-SA 3.0 | |
| S Jan 9, 2016 at 21:01 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Alexander Woo |