In this 11th edition of its flagship annual survey of college general education curricula, What Will They Learn?, ACTA shines a light on the wide disparity in academic standards at institutions of higher learning across the country. What Will They Learn? reviews the core curricula of over 1,100 four-year public and private institutions to determine the rigor of each school’s general education program. Ratings are based on how many of the following seven core subjects are included in the curriculum: Composition, Literature, Foreign Language (intermediate-level), U.S. Government or History, Economics, Mathematics, and Natural Science. Grades are awarded on an “A” through “F” scale, depending on how many of the seven core subjects institutions require. This year, 372 schools earned an “A” or “B” grade, while over 400 received a “D” or “F.” Too many colleges and universities continue to offer unstructured and chaotic curricula, causing students to sort through a plethora of course options in the name of “choice” and “self-discovery.” What Will They Learn? 2019-2020 and its interactive companion website WhatWillTheyLearn.com can help orient students, parents, and trustees as they consider what educational quality looks like in 21st century America.
ACTA’s report The Cost of Chaos in the Curriculum reveals that the vast array of course choices given to college students is a cause of exploding costs and poor academic outcomes. And a bloated undergraduate curriculum is particularly detrimental to the success of students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The report documents how at most colleges and […]
Read and admired throughout the world, Shakespeare’s plays and poetry have been the guiding light of statesmen, of authors, and of artists. His writings are the indispensable foundation for understanding English literature, language, and rhetoric. Yet less than 8% of the nation’s top universities require English majors to take even a single course that focuses […]
Just as July 4th celebrations are set to begin, ACTA’s new report, No U.S. History? How College History Departments Leave the United States out of the Major, reveals that less than 1/3 of the nations leading colleges and universities require students pursuing a degree in history to take a single course in American history. Only 23 […]
The advancement of empirical science, the Industrial Revolution, and then the technological revolution, the development of representative government, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare, Michelangelo’s David and Da Vinci’s masterpieces. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin. It’s been a rather remarkable run. And how remarkable that this engine of human progress seems strangely to be faltering. Seventy-one years ago, French […]
College graduates still learn more than high school graduates over the course of their careers. But a recent PayScale survey found that managers increasingly say recent grads lack basic writing, speaking, and problem solving skills. Traditionally, students have developed these skills through general education programs, which make up roughly one-third of most students’ academic programs. […]
The summer holidays have finally ended, and across America college students are returning to campus. But not before someone—most likely mom or dad—has written a hefty tuition check. If you’re a parent going into hock to pay for your son or daughter’s degree in English lit, you may be feeling a mite anxious about what […]
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