EDITORIAL – College students lack common sense

Understanding newspaper editorials. Balancing your checkbook. Estimating whether the gas in… Understanding newspaper editorials. Balancing your checkbook. Estimating whether the gas in your tank will get your car to the nearest gas station. Averaging out interest rates for credit cards.

A recent literacy study concluded that regardless of major, more than half of students at four-year colleges and at least 75 percent at two-year institutions lack the ability to complete the aforementioned tasks, reported an article on www.cnn.com.

The study, financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts, also found that this was just a glimpse into the undereducated world of college students. When considering the subject of math, the article goes on to cite that almost 20 percent of students pursuing four-year degrees had only basic quantitative skills compared to only 30 percent of two-year students.

While college students can be commended for literacy rates surpassing those of adults in the United States and for having great proficiency in research, the growing problem of college graduates lacking core skills must be addressed.

The assumption behind those who get into college lacking these skills is that they slipped through the cracks. But what can be theorized for the astonishing percentage of those who graduate without this essential information? And, furthermore, what does this say about the importance of a college education?

It’s clear that states and institutions need to monitor what they deem requirements for students more carefully because what already exists is not effectively educating students on these complex tasks.

Also, the ways courses are taught have an effect on this high rate of inadequacy. Often, a lot of the information learned is good enough for the scenario of class but not applicable to real life.

Students would do well to have more methods of testing proficiency other than formal quizzes and tests. It would help if teachers all made an effort, regardless of the nature of the material, to extend the subject to include more practical applications.

And, there is something to be said of students simply asking when they don’t know something. Classroom environments can sometimes be competitive. While many a professor will remind students that there is no such thing as a stupid question, some classmates will beg to differ. Ideally we should come to college with the mentality that we’re all here to learn and minor details occasionally escape all of us. But unfortunately, many don’t and lecture halls can be full of the narrow-minded.

Thus, college students must take responsibility for their education and pursue alternatives to obtaining vital information. Office hours and teacher’s assistants are specifically designed for this purpose.

For those who end up “slipping through the cracks,” many universities have equipped students with programs to offset this problem. Pitt’s University Challenge for Excellence Program is a program that students who scored lower than a 1200 on their SAT’s were automatically enrolled in.

UCEP greeted several students with an academic adviser and counselor while they were choosing classes and getting mentally settled into the college environment. Targeted at the retention of specific groups of undergraduate students, it provides mentors, small classes and even personal attention for students.

This program also ensures that students are enrolled in a University Orientation class that familiarizes them with the campus and gives them practical information about college life. UCEP, now under Student Support Services, is an invaluable resource that more universities should have.

America prides itself on its institutions. From Harvard to ITT Tech, promoting a well-rounded education is top priority.

Awareness regarding this study should provoke change in students who recognize that they lack these skills and in administrators who are in the position to do something about it. Our only hope is that those reading will be able to make sense of it.