Education:
Institutions of higher learning fail to make the grade nationwide
By SHELDON JONES
Collegian Staff Writer
Each year millions of undergraduates enroll in
institutions of higher learning.
They do so for various reasons: to further
educate themselves, to advance their training in a specif
ic discipline, to increase their earning power in the job
market.
Typically, in four years barring unforeseen circum
stances they graduate.
But whether these undergraduates, totaling 5 million in
number, have received a thorough and sufficient educa
tion in their four years of college is an issue of front
burner concern, according to a report released by the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
It essentially says that colleges and universities in the
United States aren’t doing the jobs they were designed to
do.
Released, early last month and authored by Ernest
Boyer former U.S. Commissioner of Education and Chan
cellor at the State University of New York, the report is
still stirring concern among education officials about
whether undergraduate students are, indeed, receiving a
quality education.
The 242-page document levels stinging criticisms at the
nation’s 2,100 colleges and universities.
“Driven by careerism and overshadowed by graduate
and professional education, many of the nation’s colleges
and universities are more successful in credentialing
than in providing a quality education for their students,”
the Carnegie report states.
“The college suffers from conflicting priorities and
competing special interests. During our study we found
deep divisions that dramatically diminish the intellectual
and social life on campus and restrict the capacity of the
college to effectively serve its students.”
The report, drawing on site visits to a carefully selected
sample of 29 colleges, surveys of students, faculty, and
administrators and broad consultation with higher educa
tion researchers and scholars, found the following:
• Today, educators from the separate levels, with few
exceptions, carry on their work in isolation. Curriculums
are disjointed and guidance inadequate. Students find the
transition from high school to college haphazard and
confusing. They are, dissatisfied with recruitment proce
dures, unclear about requirements for admission, and
troubled by the costs of higher education. These factors
cause discontinuity between schools and higher educa
tion.
The report added that the separations found between
high school and college have led to a disturbing mismatch
between faculty expectations and the academic prepara
tion of entering students. It said many young people who
go to college lack basic skills in reading, writing and
computation essential prerequisites for success in
college.
• In the scramble to recruit more students and pres
sured by market place demands, many undergraduate
colleges have lost their sense of mission. They are
confused about how to impart shared values on which the
vitality of both higher education and society depend. The
disciplines have fragmented into smaller and smaller
pieces, and undergraduates find it difficult to see patterns
in their courses and to relate what they learn to life.
Closely related is the conflict between careerism and
the liberal arts. Today’ s students worry about jobs.
Narrow vocationalism, with its emphasis on skills train
ing, dominates the campus.
• Faculty members are torn between the competing
obligations of commitment to students and effective
teaching vs. researching and publishing, on which their
promotion and tenure often hang.
• There is tension between conformity and creativity
in the classroom. Faculty have complained about the
passivity of students whose interests are stirred only
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when reminded that the material being presented will be
covered on a test. An absence of vigorous intellectual
exchange seemed to be the norm at many colleges / uni
versities.
• There is a great separation between academic and
social life on campus. Colleges often speak of the campus
as community, and yet what is being learned in most
residence halls today has little connection to the class
rooms and may even undermine the educational purposes
of the college.
The idea that college acts as a stand-in for parents, “in
loco parentis,” is no longer true.
• There is a disagreement over how the college should
be governed. As the complexity of higher education has
increased, confidence in the decision-making process
appears to have declined.
As a result college presidents are caught in the cross
fire of conflicting pressures. Faculty feel more loyalty to
their discipline than to the institutions where they teach.
Students asked to participate in campus governance do so
infrequently at best.
• The assessment process for evaluating how much a
student has learned is not necessarily a good one. Today,
academic progress of students is assessed by each profes*
sor, course by course. Class grades are dutifully record
ed. The final mark of achievement is the diploma, which
presumably signifies an educated person.
But good teachers aren’t necessarily good testers, and
the college has few ways to evaluate the quality of
educations overall.
• A disturbing gap seems to exist between college and
the larger world. There is a narrow-mindedness that
seems to dominate higher education, an intellectual and
social isolation that reduces the effectiveness of faculty
and limits the vision of the student.
But, one of the more dramatic conclusions which came
out of the report said the nation’s undergraduate colleges
were becoming more successful at handing out degrees
than in educating students.
This assertion drew fire from one Pennsylvania educa
tion official.
“We do not have diploma mills in Pennsylvania,” said
Tim Potz of the Education Department in Harrisburg.
“We have high standards in Pennsylvania. I don’t think
the new administration (under Gov.-elect Bob Casey) is
going to doubt that at all. According to U.S. News and
World Report we have the largest number of prestigious
private colleges and universities in the country.
“We also have a tremendous tradition of excellence in
Pennsylvania that has nothing to do with politics; it has
more to do with Pennsylvania being one of the first states
in the nation to develop an educational system.”
However, Potz did admit that it was difficult to evaluate
just how well a school is educating its undergraduates
because colleges / universities are screened by indepen
dent accrediting organizations, the largest being the
Middle States Association, he said.
Potz added that it is the job of these organizations to
pass judgment on curriculums and hand out accredita
tion, not the state government’s.
It would appear that it takes more than the use of
surveys or statistics to accurately gauge how well col
leges and universities educate students.
According to Lloye Miller, spokesman for Education
Secretary William Bennett, the key lies in a thorough
system of “assessment”.
“Assessment,” says Miller, “would mean some method
of testing, for instance, if a student graduated from Penn
State, whether they were taught anything.
“It might be as simple as a test that you take as a
freshman and again as a senior and the important thing to
be considered is what is the ‘value added’ in terms of
intellectual knowledge and capacity that you received
from four years of education.” .
Miller said the feeling in the Bennett administration is
that this type of “assessment” might go a long way in
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shoring up some of the weaknesses in America’s educatio
nal system, but he added the administration also believes
that the federal government has no place in setting up a
system that colleges and universities must follow.
“They should be in the business of doing that on their
own,” he said. “We should not be in the business of setting
up another federal regulatory system to act as a watch
dog over education.”
University President Bryce Jordan said, in reaction to
the report, that many of the matters Boyer touches on
need to be looked at further by most institutions including
Penn State. Jordan said he believes some of the report’s
criticisms do apply to the University, but that the extent
to which they apply varies.
“I disagree that research is not important at any
university and here at Penn State,” Jordan said in
response to the report’s criticism about whether research
was being prioritized over teaching in many universities
nationwide. “You don’t have something called a universi
ty unless you have faculty who are constantly pushing the
frontiers of their discipline.”
Jordan said he thought the “publish vs. perish” crit
icism levied at many undergraduate colleges by the
report was less prevalent here than at the four previous
major public research universities in which he has
worked.
“I believe there is more attention paid to undergrad
uate teaching here than at any of those other institu
tions,” Jordan said.
According to Jordan, a general education at Penn State
consists of certain basic goals.
Jordan said he believes education at the University
should, and is, leading the student to examine the mean
ing of human existence and teaching the student to see
where he or she fits in history. He said general education
should educate the student about the natural world
through disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology,
geology while also educating them in the realm of
aesthetics or the arts.
One way the University is looking to further strengthen
undergraduate education is through the University’s
Faculty Senate a policy-making group that represents
the University faculty as a whole and that sets policy
which pertain to the educational interests of the Universi
ty-
Jordan said the Senate has recently taken decisive
action in an effort to evaluate and, if necessary, to
improve general education at the University. He said this
is encouraging because when he first arrived at the
University there didn’t seem to be a strong enough “core”
requirement for undergraduates.
“I thought undergraduates were based to much on a
‘cafeteria core requirement,’ meaning there was a lack of
required basic courses in the undergraduate program,”
Jordan said. “The Faculty (Senate) is right now taking
steps to provide a bit more cohesiveness to the core
curriculum.”
Other steps are also being taken.
The two-week-old Alliance for Undergraduate Educa
tion a consortium of 12 of the country’s major public
research universities is already working on three
projects geared toward examining criticisms made in the
Carnegie report, Jordan said.
One project, Jordan said, will look specifically at the
discontinuity between schools and higher education one
of the ‘eight points of tension’ outlined in the report.
The project will seek to find ways of encouraging the
public school to better prepare students for college,
Jordan said.
Another project will focus on measuring the effective
ness, or ineffectiveness, of the teaching and criticism of
writing in courses other than those designed to teach
writing, such as sociology, physics and history, he said.
Improving the teaching capabilities of teaching assis
tants, which Jordan said has been a major problem at the
University, is also high on the Alliance’s agenda. Jordan
added that he does not yet know the specifics of how and
when these projects will be completed.
“These projects are underway and the Alliance is
currently looking at ways to fund them,” Jordan said.
The Daily Collegian
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1986
Despite the fact that steps have been taken to improve
education both by looking at and heeding criticisms made
in the Carnegie report, there is another constant that may
lead to trouble for colleges and universities in the future
rising tuition costs.
“When college costs are rising so fast the quality of
education becomes that much more important,” Educa
tion Secretary Bennett said in a recent speech in which he
tied spiraling tuition costs to many of the concerns cited
in the Carnegie report. “In other words, it boils down to
are you getting anything close to what you are paying all
that money for.”
However, Jordan disagrees with this notion, at least
where Penn State is concerned.
“There’s a lot of evidence that a college degree over a •
lifetime generates many many more dollars for a student
who has a college degree than for one who doesn’t,”
Jordan said. “There’s no way that a college student who
knows the facts can think that a college doesn’t pay off.”
“There seems to be no evidence at Penn State that the
level of undergraduate tuition charged discourages stu
dents from coming here,” Jordan said, adding that the
University received more admission’s applications this
past fall than ever before.
Obie Snyder, president of the University’s Board of
Trustees, said he had not yet read the Boyer report, but
said he believed undergraduate education at Penn State
was on a “hi'gh plain” when compared to other similar
land-grant schools throughout the nation.
Snyder said the board of trustees believes there should
be a close relationship between both teaching and re
search at the University.
“The board is aware that to be a top-flight university we
must be a league leader in research but at the same time
the board does not feel that the teaching aspect of the
University should be ignored,” he said.
With Pennsylvania on the verge of ushering in a new
administration on Jan. 20, the focus will turn to what
plans it has for the state’s educational system.
Dave Stone, spokesman for Gov.-elect Bob Casey, said
many of Casey’s plans for the educational system stem
from a prior Carnegie report on secondary education.
Stone said Casey, throughout his campaign, has em
phasized the necessity of improving what he termed the
‘three e’s education, economic development and im
proving the environment.
Programs now being considered by the Casey adminis
tration, Stone said, include a tuition support plan for those
who commit to teaching, in both rural and inner city,
disadvantaged areas of the state.
Also, there are plans to implement a tuition investment
plan wherein the state would allow parents “to essentially
pay for tomorrow’s education at today’s prices,” Stone
said. He added that on the secondary level there is talk of
instituting a ‘lead teacher’ program, a concept also
drawn from the prior report that would allow for a certain
select group of highly qualified teachers to supervise
other teachers.
“This would essentially be a program in which teachers
would lead by example offering incentive for other
teachers to improve,” Stone said.
Other programs “call for setting standards for both
students and teachers,” although no specifics are as yet
available, Stone said, “and not hesitating where nec
essary to remove certificates of teachers shown to be
incompetent.”
Very few of the programs being considered by the
administration, with the exception of the tuition support
plan, have any direct bearing on improving the quality of*
undergraduate education in the state, Stone said.
He said, however, they do apply indirectly because they
might lead to a stronger pre-college education for those
students who go on to become undergraduates.
Stone added that while the administration has not set a
definite time frame for these programs they are high on
the agenda.
“One of the highest priorities of the Casey administra
tion is making the Pennsylvania educational system
second to none,” Stone said.
ARHS pom resolution
■
Members not allowed to speak for group
By RICK WOODWARD
Collegian Staff Writer
The Association of Residence Hall
Students passed a motion last night to
prevent any member from speaking
for the organization about the show
ing of pornographic films by the Penn
State Cinemas.
Members also discussed a plan to
make Atherton Hall an all-University
Scholars building.
Penn State Cinemas, a subcommit
tee of ARHS, had already passed a
resolution that no member of the
organization will be permitted to en
gage in debate on the subject of
pornographic films on campus with
out the prior consent of the board,
said John Dalrymple, ARHS exec
utive vice president.
Members discussed a possible de
bate sponsored by the Undergraduate
Student Government about PSC’s
showing pornography.
Dalrymple said the motion passed
at the meeting specifies that ARHS
will not take part in any such debate
Senate to
Constitutional changes that will
“reshuffle” student representation
on the University Faculty Senate are
expected to be introduced for dis
cussion by senate members today at
1:30 p.m. in 112 Kern.
The merger of various colleges,
along with the formation of the School
of Communications last summer,
have required a redistribution of the
17 student senators, which will allow
Scientists say fidgeting burns calories
BOSTON (AP) Fidgeting is an
important way of burning up calories,
and some people squirm and wiggle
away the equivalent of jogging seve
ral miles each day, research has
found.
Researchers have also found that a
tendency to fidget, what scientists
call “spontaneous physical activity,”
varies greatly from person to person
but seems to run in families, just as
obesity does.
The latest research is part of an
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and that any member who does so has
no authority to speak for the whole
organization.
Todd Reale, president of East
Halls, said any debate that pitted
USG against ARHS would hurt rela
tions between the two organizations
unnecessarily. ARHS has already
taken a stand on the issue that it is
a service for the residence hall stu
dents and demonstrates that stand
by showing the movies, he said.
“Our purpose is not to be a scape
goat in anybody’s crusade against
pornography,” said Heidi Thompson,
president of Pollock Halls. “I feel
that ARHS’s main function is to be a
service for (residence hall) stu
dents.”
She pointed out that the money
made from the pornographic films is
circulated through ARHS and back to
the residence areas for use in their
programs.
Patrick Paul, president of North
Halls, said the issue that should be
debated is not the morality of show
ing pornography on campus, but the
discuss changes
for specific representation from each
college, senate Executive Secretary
George Bugyi said yesterday.
This change proposes a reshuffling,
Bugyi added, because “no differ
ences in numbers” of students will be
considered.
Currently, student senate represen
tation includes one student represen
tive from each of the 10 University
effort to figure out why some people our affluent society, and I don’t think
get fat and others stay slim. anybody can quibble with that,” said
Elliot Danforth of the University of
Vermont.
The scientists, based at the Nation
al Institutes of Health’s labs in Phoe
nix, Ariz., have also found significant
differences in people’s metabolisms,
the rate at which they burn up cal
ories while lying still. And this, too, is
passed from generation to genera
tion.
“Gluttony and sloth have been
blamed for the increasing obesity in
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right of students to watch it. The issue
is one of censorship, he said.
On the subject of Atherton Hall,
Darian Gill, a non-University scholar
who lived in the hall last year, said he
believes that giving the whole build
ing to University scholars or any
other group would be unfair because
of the special facilities Atherton resi
dents enjoy.
“(University scholars) don’t pay
any more room and board than any
body else; they shouldn’t get special
privileges,” he said.
Stanley Latta, ARHS adviser, said
the plans for developing Atherton as a
scholars building were supported by
ARHS three years ago, but that sup
port is no longer present due to the
turnover of membership in the orga
nization.
Gill said he had no objection to the
use of a number of floors as a schol
ars house.
“I just don’t like the idea that any
group would be getting a whole build
ing,” he said.
colleges, four graduate students and
three Commonwealth campus stu
dent representatives.
In other action, senate members
will also'be asked to respond to an
informational report regarding the
status of construction projects at the
University and proposals for improv
ing the classroom.
Scientists are looking for the an
swer to that question in the national
institute’s respiratory chamber, a
furnished room that can measure
how much energy people expend. A
report on their work was published in
the December issue of the Boston
based Journal of Clinical Investiga
tion.
.*4*.t*/
UNIVERSITY
IB K CENfRE
by W.M. Mason Jr.
tb Share the Holiday Spirit with
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Reasons Ouetintfs
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from your Martian, Love that
lightbulb. Later, Nighttrain.
Let the holiday spirit show! Share
the cheer with your friends,
roommates and Penn State by placing a
Season’s Greeting in the Dec. 12
issue of The Daily Collegian.
Today at 4 p.m. is the deadline for this
special section!
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