Where does the information come from?
How did you select the schools surveyed in the report?
Where can I find a breakdown of the grades for all the colleges and universities on your website?
Why is a core curriculum important?
What does a good core curriculum include?
Why did you choose these seven core subjects?
My college says it has a good curriculum; why is its grade low?
Why don’t you give credits for distribution requirements?
Shouldn’t students be free to pick and choose which courses they take?
Isn’t the idea of a core old-fashioned and discredited?
Aren’t many of these subjects already covered in high school?
What can institutions do to ensure a strong core curriculum?
What is this website?
This website asks a simple question about today's students: What will they learn? Specifically, will they gain the knowledge and skills they need to compete in the global marketplace, lead our nation thoughtfully, and be lifelong learners? Many college guides and ranking systems measure institutions' prestige and reputation, but no guide has looked at what students are actually required to learn. That's what we are doing here.
Where does the information come from?
We have summarized each college or university's general education requirements after a detailed review of the latest online course catalogs. Above them, we have briefly quoted publicly available statements regarding the institution's educational goals with links to the statements themselves. The graduation rates on this site are six-year rates based on the cohort of first-time, full-time freshmen who enrolled in Fall 2003. These rates are taken from the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Tuition and fees listed on this site are for 2009-2010 and are taken from US News & World Report's Best Colleges 2010 Edition, or in some instances, IPEDS. We also rely heavily on various ACTA publications, including What Will They Learn?, The Hollow Core, and Becoming an Educated Person.
How did you select the schools surveyed in the report?
The schools in the study cover the major public and private colleges or universities in all 50 states. Technical institutions that do not have a liberal arts mission are not included in this survey.
Where can I find a breakdown of the grades for all the colleges and universities on your website?
The grades break down as follows:
A 16 (2%)
B 251 (35%)
C 209 (29%)
D 135 (19%)
F 103 (14%)
Looking at the seven core subjects, the distribution is as follows:
Science 605 (85%)
Composition 553 (77%)
Math 436 (61%)
Foreign Language 236 (33%)
Literature 157 (22%)
US Gov./History 139 (19%)
Economics 25 (4%)
Why the focus on general education? Isn't the quality of the classes in a student's major what's really important?
A student’s major is important, but not for assessing the school as a whole. According to the catalogs of nearly all the universities we studied, general education is the foundation on which a college education is built. Given that half of all students end up changing their majors at least once, focusing on the core curriculum—the only classes we can be sure all students will take—is logical. Finally, in the modern economy, many students find themselves in careers unrelated to their degree, making a broad base of knowledge and skills more essential than ever.
General education is also a crucial element of the undergraduate academic environment. It is general education that provides material for a common conversation, especially among freshmen and sophomores. Done correctly, it builds an intellectual community in which students share the focus and excitement of discovery and learning. A well-structured general education helps students of diverse backgrounds and varying secondary school preparations by providing crucial foundational skills and knowledge and integrating them into a community of learning. Educators have noted, in fact, correlations between learning communities and student retention: general education facilitates such academic connections among students.
Why is a core curriculum important?
A sound core curriculum ensures students are exposed to subject areas that they might otherwise pass up—courses without which their education would be all the poorer. It is in this process of encountering knowledge from a variety of subjects that students learn and practice the analytical and critical thinking skills that are foundational to being an educated person. Familiarity with the most influential events, ideas, and works provides context for thinking critically about the more narrow, specialized topics students will encounter as upperclassmen. In short, a well-crafted core curriculum is challenging, content-rich, and coherent—and it is not something that is necessarily gained by simply amassing 120 credit hours over eight semesters.
Increasingly, the demands of the modern workforce necessitate a broad general education. In a recent survey, significant numbers of employers list writing, reading comprehension, mathematics, science, and foreign language as very important or important basic skills and knowledge. But, few of the employers said four-year college graduates have "excellent" knowledge or skills in any of these areas.
This need for general knowledge is underscored by the fact that the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that current workers hold an average of 10.8 different jobs between the ages of 18 and 42. Job descriptions may vary, but the skills and knowledge that come from a solid general education equip graduates with the flexibility to adapt to a changing job market.
What you see on What Will They Learn?SM illuminates why these statistics are so dismal: students seldom learn what they are not expected to learn.
This is because our colleges and universities have largely abandoned a coherent, content-rich general education curriculum. Many do not require a genuine, college-level math course; the vast majority do not require a survey course in American government or history, and only a handful require a basic course in economics. The general education curriculum has become anything goes.
What does a good core curriculum include?
Most people will agree that the primary goal of a college education is for students to learn critical habits of mind. These skills are not taught in any one class, but are built and refined over time as students wrestle with great thinkers in many fields of knowledge. A necessary prerequisite for studying the human world is an ability to communicate in it. Therefore, it is essential that students become proficient in their reading, writing, and speaking. From this, it follows that higher education should introduce students to great literary works. Not only does the study of excellent literature speak to the breadth of human experience, but it also inculcates the habits of reading and reflection that students will use for the rest of their lives. In many cases, college marks the last time students will read books they do not choose themselves, making it even more pressing to offer them an enriching educational experience.
Another excellent tool for understanding the breadth of human experience is the study of a foreign language. Language, as a direct reflection of thought, provides glimpses into the ways in which people of different cultures perceive the world. Additionally, in an increasingly interconnected world, employers highly prize competency in a foreign language.
Although knowledge about a variety of cultures is valuable, higher education in a free society is also the education of citizens. Therefore, it is essential that colleges and universities ensure that students have a working knowledge of the history and governing institutions of this country. A comprehensive understanding of American national history and government that includes both chronological and thematic breadth is indispensable for the formation of citizens and for the preservation of our free institutions.
Just as studying the human world requires language, studying the natural world requires mathematics and science. Numeracy at the college level allows students to evaluate, for instance, statistics they read in the newspaper about the federal budget. An ability to reason quantitatively in turn enables students to master the basic principles of scientific experimentation and observation that are essential for understanding the world in which we live. Science courses such as chemistry, biology, and physics build the analytical and critical thinking skills that today's employers demand while at the same time preparing graduates to navigate the complex and interconnected issues that are regularly debated at the local and national level.
Finally, in today's competitive global economy, understanding the principles that govern the allocation of scarce resources—economics—is becoming more and more essential. Although economics has not traditionally been a part of the liberal arts core, today's international markets, not to mention the impact economic policies have on the lives of all citizens, necessitate instruction in basic economic principles for informed citizenship.
Of course, arguments can be made for including any number of additional topics, such as art, music, psychology, sociology, philosophy, or world history. But a core curriculum that fails to require most of the seven key subjects outlined on this website will not satisfy the basic demands of general education. Several institutions go above and beyond this model—and wherever possible, we note that they do—but at many others, students run the risk of completing their degrees with only a patchwork of information, not the coherent understanding that characterizes an educated person.
Why did you choose these seven core subjects?
A school whose core curriculum fails to require most of the seven key subjects outlined in this report is failing to provide its students an adequate general education. It is essential that today’s college graduates:
• be proficient in reading and writing;
• understand enough math, science and economics to be able to function in the 21st century job market;
• be able to communicate effectively in a foreign language, since we live in an increasingly interconnected world; and
• have a working knowledge of the history and governing institutions of this country that prepares them for informed citizenship.
I’m confused. Are you saying that places like Midwestern State University and Brooklyn College, which get As, offer a better education than institutions like Cornell and Brown, which get Fs?
In terms of their general education curricula, yes. Our report is not intended to offer a comprehensive assessment of all aspects of a university. That some of the best-known colleges earn poor marks for general education doesn’t mean that they don’t do other things well; it means that they are not demonstrating a commitment to a broad-based general education curriculum.
Our grades do not place any value on prestige or reputation. Unique among the major college guides, our grades were developed based on applying objective criteria to institutions’ curricula.
My college says it has a good curriculum; why is its grade low?
Traditionally, the general education curriculum was subject to two limits. First, core courses were relatively few in number, and second, they were general in scope. The result was a curriculum that consisted of a small number of broad classes, like "Great Works of Philosophy" or "Landmarks of Literature." Courses typically covered the most important events, ideas, or works known to mankind—material considered essential for an educated person.
While most colleges today claim they are providing a strong core curriculum, in fact, they do so in name only. Instead of a limited number of courses, broad-based in focus, institutions now typically demand that students take courses in several wide subject areas—the so-called distribution requirements.
Why don’t you give credits for distribution requirements?
While distribution requirements seem like an appealing idea on paper, in practice they usually allow students to graduate with only a thin and patchy education. Students may have dozens or even hundreds of courses from which to choose, many of them very narrow or even frivolous.
• Emory: Students can choose from almost 600 different classes to fulfill their History, Society, Cultures requirement, including such courses as “Gynecology in the Ancient World.”
• University of Wisconsin-Madison gives Humanities, Literature, and Arts credit for over 550 courses, including “Introduction to Television.”
• University of Florida lists over 500 classes that fulfill its “Humanities” requirement in Fall 2010 alone, including “Amphibious Warfare” and “Philosophy and History of Recreation.”
• University of Maryland: Students can choose from 73 courses to meet their Social and Political History requirement, including “First Ladies and the Media.”
Shouldn’t students be free to pick and choose which courses they take?
A core curriculum is in no way incompatible with choice. The core ensures the basics are covered while leaving students free to choose their own interests through electives and in their major. Problems arise when too many choices undermine the goal of providing students a coherent education. Once distribution requirements become too loose, students inevitably graduate with an odd list of random, unconnected courses.
More fundamentally, a basic part of the teaching process is identifying what material is to be taught. Educators and administrators must exercise judgment and identify critical areas for required study, rather than leave it up to 18-year-old freshmen to determine what they need to know. A school can address these seven core subjects with a core of 30-35 hours.
Isn’t the idea of a core old-fashioned and discredited?
Far from it. A well-designed core, such as the one suggested by ACTA, aims to give students the broad base of knowledge they need to successfully compete in the constantly-changing global economy and to make sense of the modern world. For example, economics now forms an integral part of modern life and it is imperative for an educated person to understand its fundamental principles. 21st century business leaders and employers, moreover, are clear about the need for workers to have the skills that these core subjects develop. And policymakers increasingly recognize the value of "directed choice" in helping students efficiently finish a sound education that will stand them in good stead for productive careers.
Aren’t many of these subjects already covered in high school?
Some of them, like Math, are "covered" in grade school. Even if students completed a lower-level class on the same subject in high school, a college-level class should be something quite different. "Higher" education is predicated on the concept of attainment of "higher" skills that prepare a graduate for informed citizenship and effectiveness in a competitive workplace. K-12 education has looked to higher education to set standards that create a meaningful continuum from secondary into post-secondary education. If done well, a college core can help students build on what they have learned before.
What can institutions do to ensure a strong core curriculum?
ACTA has published a short guide entitled Restoring the Core, which is being sent to trustees of the universities and colleges surveyed. By drawing attention to the problem and launching our website, we hope to encourage students and parents to either choose schools with strong requirements, or carefully select courses at institutions that have weak requirements. We, in turn, hope to motivate trustees to demand more of their institutions.
What can I do?
Students and parents should vote with their wallets for those institutions that provide a sound foundation. While there are many reasons to choose a college, "what they will learn" is surely an essential one. If students and their parents place more emphasis on college quality, rather than reputation, institutions will respond. Students should also actively seek out the courses that really matter.
Alumni and donors should take an active interest in whether their alma maters have strong general education programs. They should not allow their degrees to be devalued by a decline in standards. While donors cannot and should not dictate curricula, they can direct their gifts—in many instances—to optional programs that provide an integrated study of essential subjects. Such programs are noted, where applicable, at the end of the ratings on this website.
Policymakers should take note of the state of the college curriculum—since it bears directly on institutional performance. While legislators should not determine what faculty members teach, they can and should ask questions about what the universities they oversee are doing to ensure their students get a good education. Universities do, after all, have a public purpose—preparing the next generation. It is essential that they deliver on this promise.