Un reciente informe sobre la idea y la práctica de la formación general a nivel superior, y sus implicancias curriculares y docentes, puede contribuir a iluminar el debate que sobre este mismo tópico tiene lugar en varias universidades chilenas.
En efecto, como señala el prólogo del informe What will they learn? A Report on General Education Requirements at 100 of the Nation’s Leading Colleges and Universities, preparado por el American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), lo que corresponde preguntarse hoy es qué aprenderán los alumnos para mañana. ¿Están adquieriendo los conocimientos y las habilidades generales necesarias para su desarrollo personal y de la sociedad? Una de las conclusiones de este informe dive lo siguiente “Even as our students need broad-based skills and knowledge to succeed in the global marketplace, our colleges and universities are failing to deliver“.
Este déficit, ¿no es acaso mucho más grave en nuestras universidades?
Bajar el informe aquí 5,4 MB
Prólogo
What will they learn?
That is the simple question the American Council of Trustees and Alumni asks in this report. We do so by exploring the state of general education, those courses designed to give college students a firm grounding in the areas of knowledge they will use for a lifetime. Specifically, we evaluate whether 100 major institutions require seven key subjects: English composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics, and science.
What we found is alarming. Even as our students need broad-based skills and knowledge to succeed in the global marketplace, our colleges and universities are failing to deliver. Topics like U.S. government or history, literature, mathematics, and economics have become mere options on far too many campuses. Not surprisingly, students are graduating with great gaps in their knowledge—and employers are noticing. If not remedied, this will have significant consequences for U.S. competitiveness and innovation.
Higher education used to uphold academic standards against outside pressure. Today, however, the pressure to dumb things down often comes from inside. As a consequence, we now have what former University of Chicago president Robert Maynard Hutchins called “education by the adding machine,” where academics refuse to decide what is important, leaving students to fend for themselves. But education cannot be left to chance.
Paying for college ranks with purchasing a home in its impact on the family budget. Yet many parents and students are spending a fortune with too little to show for it. It is high time they had good information on actual college expectations, not just reputation. We know of no other place where they can find that, including the vaunted U.S. News & World Report rankings.
That is why ACTA is issuing this report—and making much more information available at WhatWillTheyLearn.com. Our assessment cuts through the verbiage in college catalogs and shows what really matters: what the students will be expected to learn. Especially in this era of rising tuition and uncertain economic prospects, we hope our findings will help parents and students vote with their wallets and motivate trustees and alumni to demand more of their institutions.
Anne D. Neal