College Students Learn Little

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College is a time of learning, expanding the mind and gaining new skills, right? Not so much, according to a new study.

By the end of sophomore year, 45 percent of students show no significant improvement in critical thinking, writing and complex reasoning, the Associated Press reports.

The findings come from a study of more than 2,300 undergraduates published in a new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" (University of Chicago Press, 2011) by New York University sociologist Richard Arum and University of Virginia sociologist Jospia Roksa.

Students didn't get a brain boost in their last two years of college either, the study found. After four years, 36 percent of students failed to demonstrate significant academic improvement.

The findings are the latest in a series of bad news about today's college students. Recent research has found that mental health problems are on the rise among university students. Another study founds that college students are "addicted" to social media, which can affect their grades.

The authors of the new report blame students who seek easy courses and fail to study, as well as colleges that value research over teaching, for the lack of learning. Students who studied harder, read and wrote more and majored in traditional art and science fields were most likely to learn in college, the study found.

Read the full article at Yahoo News.

Live Science Staff
Live Science Staff
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