No More Pencils, No More Books, Much Less Studying?

July 14, 2010 by Paul Richlovsky

As Valerie Strauss mentioned last week on “The Answer Sheet” education blog (The Washington Post), two California economics researchers recently completed a study, “Leisure College USA,” (PDF) that shows the average student studies about 14 hours a week. Compare that to 1961, when the average college student put in about 24 hours a week, or 71% more time. Another way of looking at the numbers is to say that today’s students average 2 hrs./day studying while 40 years ago they averaged almost 3.5 hrs./day.

While author Nick Carr might be quick to decry the influence of technology on our distracted attention spans, there could be another reason why students are relying less on books: study time has been declining for decades. The new research shows that the 1961 average study time had already been cut a third by 1981 and an additional 8% by 2004.

Other explanations offered in Strauss’ post for the decrease in study time include:

• colleges are giving students more leisure time as a competitive advantage
• professors assign less work in order to have more time for research
• students do a lot of things at college besides studying and partying (think extra-curriculars)
• students juggle work with college today more than in the past

I might add to the third point the argument that emphasis on extra-curriculars starts in high school.  It is there that expectations are created that students take part in activities outside the classroom. This mantra is drilled into students’ heads by parents and college counselors in high school, and the ability to show leadership and communication skills is deemed on an equal footing with G.P.A.s in many college admissions offices, reinforcing the value on time spent in extra-curriculars. Taken to an extreme, the result is the Max Fischer/”Rushmore” syndrome. For those who haven’t seen the movie, the story of Max Fischer is basically that of a young man who faces expulsion from his high school due to poor grades because he is involved in a multiplicity of after-school clubs.

So, if you’re considering going back to school for a career change or advancement, take heart in the fact that you’re probably going to spend less time studying than your parents or grandparents. And we wonder why people always think the younger generations have it easier than their own!

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Photo courtesy of somegeekintn via Flickr.