Students Today: Lazy or Under-Challenged?
Today’s technologies and connectedness from social media has increased the possibilities for distractions among college students. However, many of these new technologies also enable students to more efficiently gather information and compute data. So, it is not shocking that a recent report from the University of California found that even though students are studying about 10 hours less a week then students did in 1961, it is not because today’s students are any less focused on their studies.
Instead, the study found that the greatest decline in studying took place before computers were all over college campuses and owned by every student. Between 1961 and 1981 study times fell from 24.4 to 16.8 hours per week. In the last 30 years, by comparison, it fell by just two hours.
In The Atlantic Wire, Max Fisher delves into some of the comments left on Kevin Drum’s Mother Jones blog post about this study. Interestingly enough several commenters seem to believe it is the result of professors not sufficiently challenging students. This would certainly complement the theory that it is not distractions from technologies that cause students to study less.
Among some of the most notable comments that Fisher finds are:
Arguing that professors require less effort from students:
- There is an increase in temporary adjunct faculty who are vulnerable to course evaluations.
- More schools have adopted pass-fail classes and so students don’t have to work as hard to get a specific grade.
Arguing that students focus less on their studies:
- Grades are becoming less important than extracurricular activities to graduates searching for jobs.
- More students are working part-time to pay their way through school.
- Students today read less and are less willing to complete the recommended reading assigned by professors.
The numerous theories give rise to many unanswered questions about study habits. It seems apparent, however, that it is difficult to accuse today’s students of sheer laziness. What do you think: Are students studying less because they are lazy or under-challenged?