Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2005/06/02/missing_the_basics.php
Thursday, June 2, 2005
Every year, come spring, The Dartmouth runs a series of articles on the upcoming freshman class. Generally, it exudes a daunting enthusiasm: "applicant pool up! SAT scores up! admittance rate down!" The Dean of Admissions, Karl Furstenberg, rhapsodizes about the brilliance of the future men of Dartmouth. "Overall, [the Class of 2008] applicant pool was exceptional." Indeed, they had record high average SAT scores when they arrived. As for the current sophomores, they were an "amazing" group "of interesting and unique students," which will translate into a class of the "highest caliber." And next autumn, the '09s will come to campus, boasting record high average SAT scores, but one would not expect anything less from "one of the strongest classes entering any college in the country."
It would seem that Dartmouth is subject to an inflow of ever more dazzling youths—each new class unrivaled in wit and talent. Presumably, a yearly infusion of such vigor guarantees the College is stronger than ever before. Perhaps this is the case, but we think such a rosy conclusion unlikely.
To better judge the life of the mind at Dartmouth—the quality of both students' knowledge and their education—we designed a quiz to evaluate students' familiarity with the Western canon. We culled together questions from previous Dartmouth Review Western culture tests and added several new Western canon and general knowledge questions. Staffers collected student responses over the last two weeks under the injunction that they were not to reveal their association with the Review, lest it color results. Readers ought to bear in mind that this survey of student knowledge offers no scientific evidence; it is merely anecdotal.
Still, the anecdotal evidence is damning. While students might be increasingly well-credentialed, they manage to demonstrate a frightening ignorance of basic knowledge. For an institution purportedly grounded in the liberal arts, an astounding portion of Dartmouth's students has a sorry grasp on the foundations of the Western civilization. This is true not just of freshmen who have been here only a year, but seniors on the precipice of graduation. For example, nearly a third of seniors were unable to answer a quarter of the questions correctly. This comes after having undergone a course of education that Dartmouth describes as liberal arts, supposedly intent on providing general knowledge.
President Wright, in his 2003 Convocation address, made a few comments on the Dartmouth education. He explained that "a liberal arts education…seeks to encourage a lifetime of learning and unlearning—an intellectual impatience and curiosity that never allows you to be quite satisfied with what you know." But the College must be emphasizing the unlearning over the learning, if the survey results are any indication. At least, such a method succeeds in instilling curiosity, albeit in a roundabout manner—undergraduates are very likely unsatisfied with what they know, given that they seem to know very little.
Indeed, one can be hopeful that students are displeased with certain deficiencies in their education. One girl, when she reached the question on the Battle of Hastings, wrote, "OK, I should know this… but I can't remember!" Numerous other students expressed embarrassment at their inability to answer the questions. These responses suggest that Dartmouth undergraduates do not to lack the curiosity that Wright desires of them, nor, as the Dean of Admissions informs us, do they lack intellectual ability; what may be lacking, however, is a College with the will to instruct them.