Some highlights...via InsideHigherEd -
1. The proportion of students claiming no religious affiliation has increased, from 13.6 to 19.1 percent between 1966 and 2006.
2. About two-thirds of students today socialize with people of another race or ethnicity in high school, and a similar percentage expect to do so in college.
3. Gaps favoring men over women persist in the physical and computer sciences, but no longer in mathematics.
4. Students’ self-confidence in academic ability continues to soar, with 68.6 percent considering themselves “above average” or in the top 10 percent of their peer group.
5. Grade inflation has intensified in the past 20 years, with 24.1 percent of students — a record — reporting an A- high-school average last year.
6. Tardiness is also becoming more common in the last year of high school.
7. The percentage of students applying to more than three colleges has almost tripled since 1967, to 56.5 percent.
8. The importance of going to a college with a high reputation has remained virtually unchanged since 1983.
9. Students are becoming more polarized. Moderates are in decline, and more are labeling themselves as either liberal or conservative.
If things are not different from what they were 40 years ago...they sure should be. No?
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