Are First Year University Students Ill Prepared For University?
Mar 12, 2009
Listen to most university professors in the United States and Canada, and you’ll hear the complaint about poorly prepared first-year students.
In Canada, University of Western Ontario Professors James Cote and Anton Allahar show that students today get higher marks for unworthy performance.
“Today’s college freshmen continue to be academically disengaged…students spend less time studying and doing homework, with only 34.9 per cent of entering students reporting studying or working on assignments for six or more hours per week. This marks the lowest figure since this question was first asked in 1987. Although students are spending less time studying, their high school grades continue to soar with 44.1 per cent of freshmen report earning A averages in high school…This combination of academic disengagement and record grade inflation poses a real challenge to our higher education system, since students are entering college with less inclination to study but with higher academic expectations than ever.”
Ivory Tower Blues: A University System in Crisis. James E. Cote, Anton L. Allahar, University of Toronto Press.
Post generously provided by John Storm, Center Director of Oxford Learning St. Catharines, Ont., Canada.
Do you think first-year university students are adequately prepared? Let us know your thoughts.
Comments(5)
Find this article online at: www.oxfordlearning.com/letstalk/2009/mar/12/first-year-university-students-prepared/
Pamela - Mar 17, 2009
Our high school kids are absolutely not prepared for the real world. In university, many of our kids struggle in 1st year and a lot of it has to do with schools/principals/teachers not willing to mark a child as "not good enough" so as to not hurt their feelings.
Jane - Mar 19, 2009
It is a harsh reality—but yes, university marks are being inflated while the standards are being lowered.
Take for example, when I was preparing to leave high school, my teachers warned me: "You'll be docked a half a point for each grammar infraction," and "They will not pass a paper with poorly presented argument," etc.
When I arrived at university, I found this wasn't the case all. Grammatical and spelling errors were marked, but no points were deducted for them. An A paper just needed a reasonably sound argument and a somewhat acceptable writing style.
So what happened? Why would the teachers lie to us about what to expect? I don't believe they lied at all. I think that when they were in university, papers were graded with stricter guidelines and higher expectations.
But those standards have been lowered so more people can have a chance to excel.
This leads to a secondary problem, which is how a university education doesn't hold the value it once did because they are a dime a dozen these days—but that problem is for another day.
To further my point, I leave you with a story about one of my favorite profs. He was a smart man, knew his field well, and taught the most interesting classes. He was also notorious for inflating marks. I know of a girl who pulled an all-nighter to get a paper done. What she handed in was comparable to incoherent garbage and she knew it was! (I am allowed to say that because I am that girl.) She (rightfully so) received the lowest mark in the class. Her mark? An 83. I believe I should have failed, but instead I got an A. Case in point: One of my classmates wrote a fourth year thesis under the same prof. He received a 100% upon completion. While you might think this is cause for celebration, he actually had to go to the prof. and ask for a lower mark—what grad school would take him seriously with a mark like that?
This is not to ever take away from the fact that the prof in question was one of the best I ever had. But inflating marks can do more damage than it can good. I think that it might be time for universities to look into their marking systems and possibly standardize them across Canada (because some universities have a reputation for inflated marks, while others have a reputation for being especially tough). Canadian universities clearly need to be more strict with grades, but it would also be good to know that an A from UWO is the same as an A from UBC.
Manny - Jul 8, 2009
it's true first year students get more stressed out then any other students because its there first year and they have no clue what to do and how to get a hold of their professors and things like its hard
Zama - September, 2009 - Sep 29, 2009
it's true that first year students struggle during their first year at the university. one of the reasons is that most of these students do not have a clue of what they must expect from the environment of the university. again, there are a lot of challenges within the university, such as trying to get new friends, coming from the situation where you have been teached to the situation where have to be lectured, coming from the situation where you get all the reading materials such as study guide to the situation where you have to consult library for any information. again, there is a serious issue of lack of accomodation in these university, and some students are not used to such a situation where you have share a room with at least four students in a single room. that is a very chaotic experience and it leads to the situation where your academic performence will decline.
lamla dlakiya - Mar 12, 2010
tell me more
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