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January 16, 2007
Freshpeople Reading
Steven Bell points us to a new study in a posting titled "Freshmen Not Avid Readers". That word freshman is so quaint. Is it still so popular? I know we mostly call them first years or first year students in Canada. You never hear the terms sophomore or junior or senior here. Of course when we ended grade 13 in Ontario, most 3 year BA programs ended too and became 4 year degrees. Kids who take grade 12 twice to increase their scores are said to be taking a victory lap! Women do outnumber men in higher education and have for many years.
The second annual National Freshmen Attitudes report reports the folloiwng:
"This report describes the attitudes and motivations of first-year students nationally at the beginning of their undergraduate experience. Among the findings:
• Ninety-five percent of entering first-year students bring a strong desire to complete their education;
• Only half of entering students enjoy reading, with females enjoying it much more than males;
• Female entering students report superior study habits and a stronger desire to finish college than males, while males report greater confidence in their math and science preparation;
• Nearly half of students at two-year institutions (45 percent) expect to work more than 20 hours per week, compared to 19 percent of entering students at four-year public institutions and
27 percent of entering students at four-year private institutions;
• Most first-year students report that they would welcome assistance in areas such as preparing for college exams (74 percent), career guidance (66 percent), math tutoring (48 percent), and assistance with getting a part-time job (46 percent).
The attitudinal findings, juxtaposed against national graduation data, bring to light a sobering disparity: Although the vast majority of today’s first-year students arrive at college really wanting to complete their degrees, only half of them are likely to accomplish their goal."
You can find the full report (16 page PDF) here.
Stephen
Posted by stephen at January 16, 2007 9:14 AM