What College Freshmen Don't Know

Deficiencies in Basic Knowledge Begin in High School

Oct 25, 2009 Michael Streich

The dearth of knowledge in what is considered basic in Arts and Science classes is decreasing every year among college freshmen and may be traced to earlier education.

In regard to Arts and Sciences, most college freshman entering four years of undergraduate studies know very few basics, despite having been in numerous required History and English classes. Part of the blame lies with high school teachers that often have only a rudimentary understanding of their subject area. These teachers rely daily on their “wrap-around” teacher editions that specify questions to be asked and provide a variety of classroom activities. Blame must also be placed with school administrators, parents, and students themselves.

Significant Gaps in Basic Knowledge

Typical objective and subjective answers from college freshmen taking Western Civilization and American History survey courses frequently include answers such as the following:

• During the French Revolution, the army communicated by radios.
• Benedict Arnold commanded the American Continental Army.
• Rome is located in Greece.
• The Boston Massacre resulted in the destruction of the city by a British army.
• Abraham Lincoln is best known for freeing Native Americans.
• Early Christianity was spread in the Eastern Empire by Spartacus.
• The Nile River separates Western and Eastern Europe.
• Shakespeare’s plays were written in a dead language.

The list goes on and on and many instructors can share equally foolish answers, often from students that graduated high school with honors.

Severe weaknesses also occur in art and music history. 19th Century Romanticism is a staple in every Western Civilization text book, yet most students have no past experience with the music of Beethoven or Mendelssohn. Most have never heard of Franz Schubert. Although it is often asking too much, they cannot differentiate between Delacroix, Goya, or David.

English and Geography

Although most states require British Literature as the standard course of study in high school senior year, freshmen usually cannot name one Romantic poet. Teaching the Crimean War and mentioning Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Charge of the Light Brigade” heroic poem elicits only incomprehension. It is little wonder that many freshmen papers and essays are decidedly sterile because the writers have no background of common knowledge that would bring life to a chosen topic.

One Western Civilization class was given an unlabeled map of the Roman Empire at its height, after being told to study the maps in the text. Thirty percent of the students attempted to label items on the map by holding it upside down. These students could not even recognize the iconic Italian boot jutting into the Mediterranean Sea.

Accountability of Teachers

These collective weaknesses can be traced to high schools and perhaps even earlier grades. Accountability begins with teachers and administrators:

• Many teachers, especially younger ones, are not fluent in their discipline.
• Almost all in-school professional development is geared toward educational methodology and not subject enrichment.
• Most advanced degrees earned by teachers are in Education, not the subject area.
• State certification programs focus more on Education than on subject fluency.
• Administrators and curriculum coordinators fail to see the impact of subject area deficiencies.
• Teachers are generally not encouraged to keep up with the literature about their discipline.
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Ironically, in many states a teacher applicant with an MA in a particular field of study will not be hired until they have taken a number of graduate courses in Educational methodology even if they scored in the highest percentiles on the national Praxis exam.

Solutions are Elusive in Long Term Educational Reform

Rather than addressing subject knowledge or the decline in high school student reading and writing, some school systems are considering salary changes tied to merit rather than obtaining graduate degrees in Education or achieving National Board certification. Compensation based on merit, however, is tied to standardized testing and does nothing to address subject competency by the teacher.

The result of this on-going tinkering will not affect the lack of basic knowledge exhibited by freshmen. As the cycle continues, college professors may be forced to “bump down” expectations and require less.

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