One of the biggest problems in undergraduate education today is the so-called “disengagement factor.” Academic disengagement happens when students enter college, go to class, and complete assignments, but in a desultory manner. They don’t work as hard as they should, they blow off morning classes, and they don’t interact with their teachers outside of class. In the 2008 National Survey of Student Engagement, for instance, 38 percent of first year students “Never” met with professors outside of class to “discuss ideas from readings or classes,” and 39 percent only did so “Sometimes.”
A study due to appear in Social Science Research contributes an interesting finding to the problem. It’s by Susan A. Dumais, and it’s entitled “The Academic Attitudes of American Teenagers, 1990-2002: Cohort and Gender Effects on Math Achievement.”
Dumais takes data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 to draw comparisons between each group of high school students regarding their attitudes toward academics and social life. The investigation included questions about why students headed to college, how they rated the importance of studying, grades, etc., how they related academic behaviors to their friends’ judgment, and gender differences over time.
One finding runs against the common line: “Students in the Millennial Generation, as analyzed here, appeared less engaged in school than their Generation X predecessors.” The conclusion contradicts the characterization of X-ers as slackers and Millennials as sincere go-getters.
Another finding, though, complicates the judgment. While X-ers rated academic values (attending class, getting good grades, graduating) more highly than Millennials did, Millennials rated continuing one’s education more highly than did X-ers. In other words, even though they didn’t care as much about academic behaviors themselves as X-ers did, Millennials considered just going to college more important.
Dumais’ interpretation of that finding is: “the Millennial Generation understands the larger picture; they realize the importance of higher education for reaching one’s future occupational and life goals.”
Put it this way. For Millennials, it’s the concrete end result that counts, the degree that gets you the job. The larger educational purpose of college—that is, to become an informed citizen, a discerning consumer, a reflective mind—is secondary, if not a distraction.
So don’t be too impressed by the ambitiousness and earnestness of today’s crop of young ones, especially if you teach in the liberal arts. They’re more tactical than they appear, and we should add to our instruction a component to counteract it, namely, passing along the conviction that knowledge is a good in itself, and that the understanding of college as a four-year employment service is an opportunity forever lost.
