The study, which followed a group of undergraduates from 24 different colleges and universities, tracked the development of critical thinking, reasoning, and writing skills. After two years, forty-five percent of the students showed no significant improvement in these skills. After four years, the percentage dropped slightly to thirty-six percent. Students who majored in the liberal arts showed higher gains in these skills than other majors. Conversely, business, education, social work, and communications majors showed the least improvement over the course of the study.
One possible explanation for this trend is that some universities and colleges now promote a highly specialized learning process: general knowledge and reasoning is discarded in favor of teaching the student as much as possible about his or her individual career field. This method, while making the student more marketable for employers, severely limits their adaptability. Professors also often teach to the tests, rather than giving the student a comprehensive understanding of the subject material. It seems that the actual knowledge behind a degree has diminished in recent times, due to these changes.
Do students nowadays gain enough general knowledge? Which teaching method do you prefer: learning the material and how to apply it, or simply being taught how to pass the tests?
