Posted on 09/19/2007 6:50:14 AM PDT by petercooper
Students Know Less After 4 College Years
Harvard Gets D+ on Civics Quiz
By ANNIE KARNI
Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 19, 2007
Students at many of the country's most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a "D+" average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam about civic literacy.
According to a report released yesterday by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the average college senior at the 50 colleges and universities polled did not earn a passing grade.
"At the most expensive colleges, they actually graduate knowing less," the executive director of the Jack Miller Center at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Michael Ratliff, said. "Colleges and universities are not directing students to the courses that would educate them. We want to know whether after getting $300 billion to do their work, universities are actually educating their students."
At universities such as Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Duke, and Berkeley, seniors scored lower on the test than freshmen, living proof of the broadening relevancy of the old Harvard adage that the university is a storehouse of knowledge because "the freshmen bring so much and the seniors take away so little."
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Not.
Surprising.
Rankings
NO COLLEGE EARNED BETTER THAN A D+
Rank College Mean Senior Score (2006) (% correct)
1. Harvard University 69.56%
2. Grove City College (PA) 67.26
3. Washington & Lee University (VA) 66.98
4. Yale University 65.85
5. Brown University 65.64
6. University of Virginia 65.28
7. Wheaton College (IL) 64.98
8. University of Pennsylvania 63.49
9. Duke University 63.41
10. Bowdoin College (ME) 62.86
11. Princeton University 61.90
12. University of Notre Dame 61.25
13. Rhodes College (TN) 61.18
14. Smith College (MA) 60.07
15. University of Rochester (NY)* 59.32
16. University of Wisconsin 57.87
17. University of Georgia* 57.76
18. University of North Carolina 57.68
19. Cornell University 56.95
20. Carnegie Mellon University* 56.90
21. Calvin College (MI) 56.45
22. University of California-Berkeley 56.27
23. University of Washington 55.88
24. Concordia University (NE)* 55.28
25. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities* 53.50
26. University of Florida 53.40
27. Iowa State University* 52.69
28. University of Montana* 52.16
29. Gonzaga University (WA) 51.86
30. University of Michigan 51.00
31. Illinois State University* 50.93
32. Mississippi State University* 50.86
33. Rutgers University* 49.99
34. George Mason University (VA) 49.96
35. Murray State University (KY)* 49.75
36. University of Mississippi 49.32
37. IdahoState University* 48.15
38. University of Massachusetts-Amherst* 46.66
39. Mount Vernon Nazarene University (OH)* 44.60
40. Pfeiffer University (NC)* 44.30
41. St. Cloud State University (MN)* 44.26
42. Texas State University-San Marcos* 43.99
43. Georgia College and State University* 43.68
44. University of Southern Maine* 43.58
45. Marian College (WI)* 43.10
46. Texas A&M International University* 41.14
47. Eastern Connecticut State University* 40.99
48. St. Johns University (NY)* 39.82
49. Oakwood College (AL)* 34.69
50. St. Thomas University (FL)* 32.50
* Randomly selected school
oops- Thanks
They send you off to college,
Try to gain a little knowledge,
But all you want to do is learn how to score.
-Jimmy Buffet
Alert!!!! The sun rose in the East this morning!!!!!
Families all over the country are going into debt to fund these left wing machines that used to be great Universities. They are running on fumes and the remnants of thier reputation.
Toga! Toga! Toga!
No joke- I was in an ice cream shop in the NE recently- I heard the girl behind the counter mutter to her co-worker— “and I paid $23,000 a yr for that school”. Maybe she got a degree in “Women’s Studies” or something
I learned how to do this in the Navy. Than I quit serious drinking in 87.
“Seven years of college down the drain.”
I say it depends on the parents. Right now, we - my wife and I - are telling are grandsons that what they teach in the public schools and college is next to nothing considering what you can learn on your own. We have also warned them of the liberal bias.
The only thing colleges are good for now is football.
Thanks for posting this!
Who'd a-thunk it??
And providing work for foreign TAs who can't even speak understandable English.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.