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Re: Problems in Education



If we cannot expect 30-60 minutes a night for homework in junior high,
60-90 minutes a night for high school, and 1-2 hours out of class for each
hour in class for college... and if we cannot expect students to spend this
time in a manner that enhances their personal understanding of the
material... then I don't see how any curriculum is going to succeed. If
"having a life outside of class" is the current standard for education,
then
we must change that standard or else accept the dumbing down of America. I
don't see any way to have "less is more" if this is understood as less time
spent can yield more learned. That "ain't gonna happen."


Statistics from a national survey show just how much (little!) students
study, and it makes little difference what type of college or university
you look at. There is very little difference between seniors and freshmen.
These are self-reported results, and I don't see if these are just "full
time" students, or whether part time students are included. The survey
covers 100,000+ students and 300+ institutes.


Hours preparing Fr Sr
for class
0 0.5 0.5
1-5 20 20
6-10 24 25
11-15 20 18
16-20 15 14
21-25 10 9
26-30 6 6
30 + 5 7

About 1/2 of the students spend noticeably LESS than 1 hr of prep for each
hour of class. Only 1/8 spend close to 2 hr prep per hour in class.

See http://www.indiana.edu/~nsse/ for more details


Tim Folkerts