The most dangerous book of the year. Arum and Roksa present a controversial thesis: that college is not teaching students critical reasoning and writing skills, and back it up in-depth research based on a survey of 2200+ students across 24 institutions, and results on the CLA standardized test.

As a recent college graduate and current PhD student, "Academically Adrift" matches my experiences to a T. While some students are capable of benefiting from college, many students (45% by the authors numbers) show no learning, managing their career to minimize time in difficult classes while maximizing socializing as they achieve an increasingly expensive and meaningless certificate.

This crisis has many parents: poor high schools, an academic culture that does not value teaching, students-as-consumers, and so on. I don't know what the fix is, but this book is starting a much needed conversation.

And as a final note, in sociology you can always critique somebody methodology. Much of the study is based on changes in the CLA across two years. In my experience, the first two years of college are about searching many fields for the one that appeals to you. Its a slew of introductory classes. The meaty classes that teach critical reasoning don't show up until the 300 and 400 level. So, the authors might be over-stating their claims in this regard. On the other hand, the number of people with "some college" is a significant category, and we may have to recognize that these people are much less educated than thy appear to be.