This won't come as a shock, but a recent study by two economists at the University of California found that over the past four decades the time college students spend in class and studying has decreased substantially, from 40 hours a week in 1961 to 27 hours a week in 2003. At the same time, a report released in July by the Delta Cost Project found college spending on instruction declining while spending on recreation and student services rose.
Interestingly, the data doesn't suggest the trend reflects more students with jobs. In fact, students who don't have (or even need) jobs are studying less, too. It appears that colleges, including prestigious, highly selective schools, are simply requiring less work. Also, it's not merely that students are more efficient with their time because of computers, the Internet, and such, one study indicates.
Obviously this controversy gets into measurement issues very quickly. Also, before Baby Boomers get too judgmental about how much they studied back in days of yore, please note that the decline began when they were in school.
The New York Times has posted a "Room for Debate" feature, involving professors, authors, and students. The reactions are fairly predictable, given each contributor's position, but they are still interesting, and readers should not ignore the abundant comments from online correspondents. The NYT article also includes links to the studies mentioned above.
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