By Rex Gore
Originally published in MyStateman

 

In their book “Academically Adrift,” Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa claim that after two years of college, 45 percent of undergraduates made no significant improvement in basic learning skills and concepts.

These are fundamentals — like problem solving and basic business writing. In other words, the students didn’t learn a thing.

Gore: Giving it the new college try, debt-free photo

Rex Gore is a partner in Professional Janitorial Service of Texas, with operations in Austin, San Antonio and El Paso. He is active in other businesses and educational and civic affairs in Central Texas. He is co-founder and current board member of Peloton U.

I cannot abide by that. I decided something must be done. And I’ll get to that in a minute.

Arum and Roksa back up their findings with transcript data, on-campus surveys and results of the Collegiate Learning Assessment.

The shocker for me: The authors believe the findings were no surprise to professors and college officials, who the authors say don’t expect new students to rise above the many distractions of the “full college experience.”

Read the original Austin American-Statesman story here.