Of course, the answer is no. McClatchy makes a big deal of a study that followed several thousand undergraduates
through four years of college and found that large numbers didn't learn the
critical thinking, complex reasoning and written communication skills
that are widely assumed to be at the core of a college education. The problem, according to the article, is that the students aren't being taught to think critically.
The study found that after four years, 36 percent showed no significant gains in these so-called "higher order" thinking skills. And, surprise, surprise - "combining
the hours spent studying and in class, students devoted less than a
fifth of their time each week to academic pursuits. By contrast,
students spent 51 percent of their time — or 85 hours a week —
socializing or in extracurricular activities. The study also showed that students who studied alone made more significant gains in learning than those who studied in groups."
Had such a study been conducted among my classmates in college more than fifty years ago the results would have been very similar. Even then, close to half of the students should not have been there.
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