Page 164 - Crisis in Higher Education

Changing Attitudes and Expectations • 135

2. It is theoretically and conceptually powerful so graduates under-
stand the reasons for doing things a certain way and can adjust their
knowledge, skills, and actions to meet changing circumstances.
3. It is useful for explaining the relationship between practice and
theory.

The risk-averse nature of many students and the desire to graduate and
find a good job causes some of them to want to learn less and follow a
safer and easier path to these outcomes. When this attitude is held by a
small portion of the student body, it can be dealt with by pressure from
other students who want to learn more. However, as this portion of the
student body increases, the problem becomes more acute. When it reaches
a tipping point, this attitude causes standards to decline, which means
all of the students learn less and the graduates are not as well prepared.
As learning standards decline, graduates have fewer job opportunities
and those jobs pay less, so students wanting to learn more and seeking
better jobs select other universities. In fact, many organizations have pre-
ferred lists of universities where they recruit employees.
Rigorous has two dimensions: one related to content and the other
related to standards. First, students should expect, in fact demand, that
they learn as much as possible—learning more makes higher education a
better value. Students get more for their money, and isn’t that what shop-
pers want? It is difficult to understand why some students want to do less
and learn less when they are paying thousands of dollars for each course
and about $100,000 for a four-year degree at a public university. In fact,
students should expect faculty to find ways for them to learn more and
to do so in the same time and with the same effort. Although some may
view this as a pipe dream, a plan so fanciful that it is very unlikely to
be realized, advances in information technology, interactive video, and
the Internet present learning opportunities that are uninvestigated and
difficult to imagine. Faculty must consider new and innovative teaching
methods, textbook publishers must develop better learning tools, and stu-
dents must provide feedback on what helps them learn more, which is a
powerful motivator for faculty.
Second, in an ideal world, students would demand high performance
standards, but there are factors inhibiting this, including the desire
for good grades and the good job that goes along with those grades. In
addition, the traditional 18- to 22-year-old college students has limited
if any knowledge about the performance standards for an accountant,