A study released by the Department of Education found only a quarter of college-educated Americans scored high enough on a literacy test to be considered proficient, and while some AU professors say their students are generally intellectually sophisticated, other say students' skills need work.
The study, conducted by the Federal National Institute for Education Statistics, surveyed 19,000 people over the age of 15 and measured "reading for purpose," the ability to process the information necessary to work and live. Three types of literacy were tested in the study: "prose" literacy, which involved reading newspapers and brochures, "document" literacy, which involved understanding maps and prescriptions labels and "qualitative" literacy, which involved skills such as checkbook balancing. The categories of literacy based upon the subjects' scores were basic, intermediate or proficient.
According to AU professor Cindy Collins, students do not practice reading comprehension enough,
"I have noticed a decline in students' willingness to slowly read through and try to understand a reading that they find challenging," she said. "They give up too quickly and hope the professor will explain in class. Educators cannot let them off the hook by filling in the blanks for them."
Professor Anthony Riley of the College of Arts and Sciences said that more than 10 years ago, a student considering taking one of his classes, which required 17 books, told him that she had never read a book before. He said he does not encounter students like that anymore and feels his students are more sophisticated and knowledgeable than a decade ago.
"By virtue of the way that I think students track professors in college, students will live up to the standards professors require," he said. "Students do understand what is expected of them in a class. When professors expect low-level performance they will get it."
John O'Trakoun, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said the study shows that college education today is lacking.
"People used to seek higher education for its own sake, but now a degree is something that's marketed and that you just pay for so that you can make more money in the future," he said. "Now professors aren't there to teach anymore, but to give you a good grade so that you can manage some company when you graduate, even though you come away from school with no intellectual discipline."
According to www.insidehighered.com, in 1992, 37 percent of college graduates attained the proficiency level; by 2003, only 25 percent had done the same. The study also found that the raw literacy scores have also declined. In 1992, the score for college grads was 325 on a scale of 1-500. By 2003, that number had dropped to 314.
The study found similar trends in proficieny rates for those with graduate degrees. Thirty-one percent of Americans with some graduate studies scored proficient on the test in 2003, as compared to 45 percent in 1992. However, the study did find that the greater the amount of formal education people have, the better they do on tasks designed to test practical literacy.
Researchers have not yet reached a conclusion as to the cause of the decline. They offered possible theories of societal factors such as a lack of interest in reading and educational factors such as a lack of preparation in secondary schools or a failure of higher education to help its students catch up.
