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>Anthony Waterman wrote in part: 
> 
"What can we do about it?  I should like to suggest that throwing our 
students in at the deep end may be just what is needed. At least we should 
be treating them as grown-ups, paying them the compliment of supposing that 
they come to university to enlarge their minds.. 
 
I fully understand this sentiment and have sometimes felt this way myself. 
But virtually ALL the evidence on college student learning tells us the 
exact opposite! That is, students needs a combination of challenge and 
support.  Throwing them in at the deep end is all challenge, no support. 
 
Yes, our students lack reading skills. That means we need to teach them how 
to read. One of the reasons they can't read...can't pull meaining out of 
words on a page, is because no one has ever asked them to do this before. 
All prior education has been textbook-based learning, where there is no 
interpretation necessary, everything is cut and dried, spelled out exactly. 
The student's job is to get a bunch of facts and definitions and then be 
able to repeat them. Which is not the mental process required to read 
Smith, or anything of substance. 
 
While it would be delightful if a significant number of our students came 
to college knowing how to read, in the way we are using the term, the 
reasons why they don't know how to read are complex. Teaching them to read 
means making some significant changes in the class, and it does not mean 
babying them. It is tough, some will rise to the challenge. Others will be 
utterly freaked out.  Same Wineburg's recent editorial in The Chronicle of 
Higher Education (April 11, 2003, http://chronicle.com, Section: The 
Chronicle Review), entitled "Teaching the Mind Good Habits" may be helpful 
on this (and related) points.  
 
Susan 
 
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