----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- >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 ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]