Harvard profs say students don't speak up in class (if they show up at all)

Students work very, very hard to get into Harvard, but once they get there, Many "skip class and fail to do the reading," according to faculty report on classroom culture, reports Anemona Hartocollis in the New York Times. When they do show up, they stare at their phones and have little to say.

Some aren't prepared for a discussion, while others worry they'll say the wrong thing, the report found. "In the spring of 2024, only a third of Harvard seniors said they felt completely free to “express personal feelings and beliefs about controversial topics,” down from 46 percent the year before.

Students were afraid . . . of being socially ostracized. They were embarrassed about possibly sounding stupid. They felt that they had to align their viewpoints with their professor’s in order to get a good grade. And they chose their classes based on the likelihood of getting a good grade, rather than out of intellectual curiosity.

They needn't worry so much about grades, writes Hartocollis. Sixty percent of grades are A's, up from 40 percent 10 years ago.

Students join clubs to stand out from all the other students with A's, leaving them with little time for academics. The university lets students register for two classes that meet at the same time.

Some professors are trying to change the dynamic by taking attendance, or encouraging students "to take notes by hand, rather than on their phones or laptops, to avoid digital distractions," writes Hartocollis. "And to help students overcome fears about speaking up, professors are adopting rules that bar students from sharing what people say inside."

In other news, test-optional admissions are on the way out at elite colleges. Princeton will require applicants to submit SAT or ACT scores, starting in 2027, leaving Columbia as the only test-optional Ivy League school. Not surprisingly, academic performance "was stronger for students who chose to submit test scores than for students who did not,” the university said.