Our
View: USA Today college assumptions
wrong
The USA Today is the nation’s most popular newspaper with a daily circulation
larger than any other at about 2.5 million. Needless to say, such high circulation
makes its printed material a considerable influence in this country and regarding
its staff editorial Feb. 22 titled “What high schoolers need: Cheat sheet
on universities,” their ideas were well-intentioned
but severely misguided.
The editorial’s main points were that not enough school data was readily
available for prospective students, that schools should be more accountable to
students and that there should be more ways to track the standard four-year college
progression.
All these points are valid, but either lack enough support or enough research.
The first point, “...Information on dining plans and intramural sports
is everywhere, but data about graduation rates or instructional quality are hard
to come by,” is absolutely wrong. The USA Today editorial squad has never
heard of “The Princeton Review” or its Web site, Review.com
“
The Princeton Review” is a popular, easily accessible and comprehensive
listing of American colleges, oozing with the data the USA Today claims is too
hard to find. Their statistics include enrollment numbers, admissions, graduation
rates, ethnicity percentages and more.
The second point, that despite being good schools, many colleges “fail
their undergraduates,” is also wrong. Stop blaming “the man” for
undergraduate failure.
More often than not, here’s the real deal: Colleges
don’t fail students. Students fail colleges.
Excessive partying, bad study habits, pregnancy, money — all are reasons
some students drop out and either take time off or never come back to academia.
Schools cannot be blamed for such things.
The third point, which explains the need to track standard college four-year
tracks, is ludicrous. The editorial says, “Finding a way to track students
through college is a proper governmental role if it can be done without compromising
privacy.”
OK, but what if a school does not have many students who graduate in four years?
Is that a bad thing? Cal State Long Beach’s college track is longer than
average, but does that mean The Beach is a sub-par university because most of
our students cannot realistically graduate within four years due to registration
problems, work or money?
We think not.
Next time a major paper like the USA Today writes such things, it needs to research
a little to prevent such shortcomings. Maybe it’s been too long since some
of their staff has been in the college scene or maybe they refuse to believe “The
Princeton Review” is a reliable source, as was implied in their editorial.
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