Dumb On Down From Day One

Universities may be accused of 'dumbing down', says Frank Furedi, but anti-intellectualism among students is embedded at a much earlier age.

Three yeas ago I wrote an article en­titled "What is university for now?" It focused on the absence of intellectual chal­lenges in Britain’s universities. I quoted undergraduates profoundly bored by their university experience and pointed out that, in many cases, students could now spend an entire year at university without reading a whole book.

The next day, I received an angry e-mail from a senior university manager who ac­cused me of "deliberately" confusing the issues. He did not dispute my claim about students who don't read books. Rather, he was upset at my assumption that books should have a privileged status in higher education.

As far as he was concerned, the book has become an optional extra for the pres­ent-day undergraduate. For months after­wards, his letter preyed on my thoughts.

I was sure that members of the higher education establishment would share some of my misgivings about the fall of standards and would be likely to feel em­barrassed by the way that university life was becoming so evidently banal. But my correspondent’s unexpected disparage­ment of studying books made me think again.

I did not have to look hard to realise that the fatal of dumbing down in higher education begins much earlier on in life. I am continually taken aback by the sense of low expectations that we transmit to youngsters. In a recent discussion I had with the parents of six and seven-year-olds, one primary school struggling to maintain a decent standard of teaching was denounced for "putting children under pressure" and being "too competi­tive". It is not uncommon to find children as young as five or six described as "not academic" by adults who seem keen to lower these youngsters’ ambitions. Sadly, all too many schools accommodate this sentiment.

The cumulative effect or lowering pu­pils’ expectations becomes evident when they leave school. It was reported that a third of Confederation of British Industry members have had to pay for extra English and maths lessons for recruits aged 16 to 19. Nearly half of all British universities are forced to put on remedial classes in English and maths for first-year students, because so many do not possess the liter­ary and numerical skills expected of un­dergraduates. A study published by York University indicates that A-level maths standards have dropped so far that B-grade students score little better in a basic university test than if they were guessing the answers. A survey of vice-chancellors indicated that a significant proportion of first-year students are struggling with grammar and cannot write essays.

Many academics are struck by the gen­eral lack of knowledge and feeble grasp of history of the current generation of undergraduates. Youngsters have become estranged from history. In a recent sur­vey of 10 to 14-year-olds, one in four did not know that D-Day was something to do with the second world war. Another survey of secondary school children from both the state and independent sectors found that a quarter of those asked did not know that the first world war occurred in the 20th century. A survey of six to 14 year-olds found that 65% could not name one classical composer. And so it goes on.

By the time students arrive at univer­sity, it is hard to catch up on all the things that they have not learnt at school. It was reported that, as more schools make lan­guage classes non-compulsory, more chil­dren are dropping languages altogether. Is it any surprise that 75% of universities have been forced to axe language courses over the past three years? Places on excit­ing exchange programmes with European universities remain unfilled, because we cannot find enough undergraduates able to follow lectures in a foreign language.

Yet, despite all the evidence, those who claim that British institutions are dumb­ing down are likely to be told that they are sadly out of touch with the real world. Government ministers and the leading voices of the British cultural elite seem unable to face the truth. They assert that young people are far better educated than in the past.

Strangely, there is no such reluctance to recognise dumbing down in America. Commentators often represent President George W Bush as the personification of dumb America. And, of course, we have all been told many times that a lot of Americans are stupid white men.

This sentiment appeared to be confirmed a couple of years ago, when the National Geographic Society published a survey showing that only 17% of Ameri­cans could find Afghanistan on a world map. For many British commentators, this was another example of the dumb America. What they failed to point out was that Britain did poorly in the same quiz. It finished bottom of the European countries surveyed.

The real problem we face is not so much the decline of standards. It is the tendency of British institutions to accommodate a regime of low expectations. This trend is, particularly striking in higher education, where declining standards are masked through the increase in the num­ber of graduates receiving 2.1 and first-class degrees.

Some academics have even called for replacing essays and exams with modes of assessment that are more likely to flat­ter student performance. Soon multiple-choice-question-based tests will displace the essay-focused exam.

"A bit dodgy" is how Charles Clarke, the education secretary, has described the idea of education for its own sake, while asserting that his government has no inter­est in supporting "the medieval concept of a community of scholars seeking truth."

Throughout the education system des­perate attempts are being made to ensure that the situation appears under control. This is why standards and the system of assessment are continuously reconfigured to ensure students succeed.

But this cynical orientation towards education does no favours to young people in Britain. Like previous genera­tions, they are ready to be intellectually challenged and stretched. But instead of providing them with an education worthy of their aspirations, all that we offer them is yet another face-lift to the examination system.

In as much as it means anything, dumb­ing down does not refer to the intelligence of people. Rather it is a statement about the way that leading British institutions promote a mood of low expectations.

Frank Furedi

/The Sunday Times, Dec 25, 2005/

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