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USANews版 - Robert Weissberg炮轰疤蟆文凭大跃进
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Robert Weissberg炮轰文凭大跃进:传授知识是可取的,但乱发文凭是害人的骗局;奥
巴马说到2020
年要多提供5百万大学毕业生
The College Diploma Fraud
By Robert Weissberg
For more than a half-century, government has tried to close racial gaps in
educational attainment. Sad to say, those gaps have proven intractable.
Nevertheless, the impulse remains as heartfelt as ever (perhaps due to its
financially lucrative character), but the emphasis is now shifting from
actual learning to equality of graduation rates. President Obama has spoken
of adding 5 million graduates to the workforce by 2020, and credential-mania
is now all the rage. This shift is a disaster in the making; imparting
knowledge is commendable, but just handing out diplomas is harmful
deception. A cynic might aver that the shift from knowledge to graduation
rates is a tacit admission that the gap-closing quest is futile.
Consider a recent Washington Post story, "Md's Towson University conquers
'graduation gap.'" The story explains how Towson is now among the tiny few
that have equalized graduation across blacks, whites, and Hispanics. The
article's tone was clearly celebratory. Meanwhile, a report prepared by The
Education Trust (cited in the Post story) that examines the topic more
broadly insisted that equal graduation rates "would be a very big step in
putting our country on a path to a better and more equitable future."
The tip-off to this educational chicanery is the silence regarding actual
learning, as if the physical piece of paper signified educational
competency. There is nothing about what these graduates majored in, their
class rank and future academic success in graduate schools, professional
certification exams scores, or future employment. Having the piece of paper
is, apparently, the great accomplishment.
University outsiders seldom grasp the ease of manipulating graduation
statistics when deception is officially tolerated. Critically, this sham is
almost invisible to outsiders. I cannot for sure say how Towson University
achieved these happy numbers, but in nearly four decades of university
teaching, I have personally witnessed multiple ruses, and my colleagues
often confirmed my observations. So let me offer what might be called "A
Guide to Schools Desperate to Increase Minority Graduation Rates."
First, offer special, unadvertised "minority only" courses. Thanks to
today's charitable standard grading curve, nearly all enrollees will now
receive As and Bs to eradicate Ds and Fs elsewhere. This just extends the
"athletes only" courses popular to sustain student-athlete eligibility. At
the University of Illinois-Urbana, where I taught for 28 years, such
"minority only" courses paralleled multiple introductory courses in varied
fields and superficially appeared to be bona fide courses. Though designed
to award gift grades, they still counted in accumulated graduation credit.
In a pinch, universities are free to award full academic credit to de facto
remedial courses targeting unprepared minority students.
Second, supply generous official rescues to wipe-out failures, and even
absolve students of blatant cheating (often rampant thanks to the internet)
in interventions totally invisible to those who suspect bogus statistics.
Some schools now even allow failing grades to be expunged after the final
exam. I recall one struggling student who submitted a paper purchased on
the internet who accidentally included the $25 receipt from
"Myprofessorsucks.com." Though the drop deadline had long passed, he was
excused from the class with no penalty thanks to the intercession of the
department's official advisor. I know of another school where written
permission from the school's president was required before a black student
could be failed. In a sense, many minority students are often treated as if
they were members of an endangered species.
Third, accept no-questions-asked transfer credit regardless of the source.
Again, this is a carryover from keeping athletes eligible and is nearly
impossible to detect without scrutinizing specific course syllabi to certify
equivalence. Moreover, each institution decides the number of transfer
credits permitted to count toward the degree. At the University of Illinois
when I taught there, one quarter of one's accumulated credits could come
from outside, be they from Harvard or the local admission-hungry community
college.
Fourth, steer academically troubled students to certain courses, especially
those taught by ideologically sympathetic instructors who virtually
guarantee top grades, or at least courses where nobody fails. Such
offerings are certainly known to counselors, but even ordinary courses now
have inflated grades, so failure requires gross incompetence (for grade
inflation in general, see here). Or, if a hard-nosed grader teaches a
required course, either pressure him or her to relax the curve or just put a
more generous grader in charge. Ironically, relying on student evaluation
to promote "good teaching" encourages easy grading and, as a side benefit,
helps boost minority graduation rates.
Fifth, develop entire majors or at least individual courses whose tacit
justification is to supply easy grades to struggling minority students.
These constitute the familiar grievance-flavored group identity curriculum -
- Black Studies, African-American Studies, Chicano Studies, and the like
(for Towson's identity politics courses, see here). Here one's own identity
is the unchallenged academic resource, and what instructor is brave enough
to invalidate that firsthand knowledge? Now add majors and courses designed
for college athletes -- courses in sports management, recreation, and even
leisure studies -- and the Mickey Mouse menu is an all-you-can-eat buffet of
soft academic irrelevance.
Finally, surround minority students with a coterie of role models, mentors,
and counselors to guide them through their rocky path toward the diploma.
Further add individual tutors, centers to help with paper-writing, and more
general classes on how to succeed in college. Towson offers a welcome-to-
college class that teaches such things as decision-making skills (see here).

While at Illinois, I witnessed a steady parade of pre-college "bridge"
programs, some of which paid prospective students to acquire essential
college skills.
With all of these tools available, it is no wonder that some energetic
schools have successfully improved black graduation rates. But whether
these concocted diplomas mean much is another story. My own sense is that
these graduates have been hoodwinked by self-serving college officials.
That today's college degrees, regardless of the recipient's race, are
increasingly "manufactured" versus reflecting real learning is strongly
suggested by a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Specifically,
contemporary "college graduates" are increasingly employed in positions once
occupied by high school graduates. For example, in 1992, 17.6% of all
college graduates were in positions classified as "noncollege level jobs."
By 2008, this percentage had doubled to 35.2%. In 1992, some 119,000
waiters and waitresses had college degrees; by 2008, this number had soared
to 318,000. No doubt, unprepared black students who owe their diplomas to
intense institutional effort and deception have fared even worse in today's
difficult job market. In a sense, America's long quest for both educational
equality and excellence is being satisfied by a combination of gullibility,
linguistic trickery, and craven opportunism
Ill-prepared black students are the real losers in this deception, and one
can only speculate why their liberal "friends" tolerate the dishonesty.
Many would have been better-advised to enroll in a trade school and acquire
a well-paid, marketable skill. In the long run, if a college degree is the
aim, a "tough love" strategy of requiring passing arduous courses with
modest outside help would be more beneficial. Surely President Obama has
encountered these subterfuges in his academic career and must realize that
calling for more and more diplomas will only increase the supply of college-
educated waiters.
Some exceptions aside, granting ever more college diplomas only signifies
the power of today's universities to counterfeit genuine accomplishment.
Particularly worrisome is that many of these graduates have been trained for
dependency. Picture these graduates navigating a cruel world deprived of
role models, mentors, counselors, sympathetic evaluators, resource centers,
pre-job bridge programs, and bosses unwilling to substitute ego-enhancing
identity politics for difficult work.
Let us be clear. It is uncertain just what these Towson graduates actually
learned, though we suspect that if the accomplishment were real, these
upbeat reports would have celebrated it. They may even succeed in demanding
jobs. Far more likely, however, is that this celebration masks a
politically driven charade to demonstrate progress to those who happily
accept outward appearances over substance.
Robert Weissberg is Professor of Political Science-Emeritus, University of
Illinois-Urbana. His latest book is Bad Students Not Bad Schools.
badstudentsnotbadschools.com
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话题: courses话题: college话题: graduates话题: graduation话题: towson