1994_02 The Daily Collegian February 1994

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Tuesday, Feb. 1,1994
THECOLLEGIAN
News—5
REPORT: Collage graduates lack competency
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Main level of Kennel Bookstore
The Wingspread Group stud¬
ied literacy levels, as well as, quan¬
titative reasoning.
Hoping to establish an average,
if not reasonably acceptable, level,
for literacy skills, researchers
ranked the 26,000 randomly se¬
lected participants on five levels
of competency in performing ev¬
eryday tasks.
The study concluded, that 49
percent of the nation's adult popu¬
lation is "at-risk" in today's infor¬
mation centered society because
' it grasps only the minimum lan¬
guage and math skills.
An estimated 90 million people
are only able to preform simple
tasks in the two lowest compe¬
tency levels - adding numbers on
bank deposits, finding an intersec¬
tion on a street map or under¬
standing an appliance warranty.
Of the college graduates tested,
16 percent holding bachelor's de¬
grees and 11 percent of the gradu¬
ate students were placed on the
bottom two rungs on the literacy
ladder.
They were unable to do things
like figure out the difference be¬
tween sales and regular price for
an advertised item, even with a
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calculator. ,
Several college graduates
reached the third level of compe¬
tency. They could write a letter
explaining a credit card billing er¬
ror, calculate mileage from a chart ■
and log information into a car main¬
tenance schedule.'
Half or mote of those with four-
year degrees couldn't perform
tasks in the fourth and fifth levels
of competency on the test - tasks
that required multiple calculations.
They could not consistently use
a table and deduce a pattern.
The Wingspread report said it
was distressing that only 8 percent
to' 12 percent of college graduates
reached the highest levels of com¬
petency.
For graduate students, the range
was 12 percent to 17 percent.
These tasks include using a cal¬
culator to figure out how much it
would cost to carpet a room or
comparing two metaphors in a
poem.
Tom Boyle, director of student
life, believe a Fresno State educa¬
tion is a good education.
"I would compare FSU to any
other institution in the sate," Boyle
said.  ^
'There's not aday thatyoudon't
learn something."      *    j
Boyle is also aware of ways to
improve the education at FSU.
'The education could improve
with better facilities and more re¬
sources," Boyle said.
"Wcwe also limiting the num¬
ber of students in attendance at
Fresno State, which is something
that we have not done inthe past."
Boyle said that in the past three
that in the past ti
years FSU has begun to limit stu¬
dents and applications to ensure
the currently enrolled students a
better education.
The report also charged the uni¬
versities with neglecting to teach   .
values.
Previous generation s of Ameri¬
cans had core values instilled upon
them from birth. •♦     '
"These values were expressed
in homey statements such as:
"Honesty is the best policy";
"Serve your country"; !*Be a good
neighbor," Brock said.
'Today we worry that the core
val ues may be shifting and that the
sentiments expressed are differ¬
ent: "Don't get involved**' "I gave
at the office**; "It's only cheating
if youfeet caught.",
Boyle views values in educa¬
tion as a shared responsibility.
"There is no way we can say we
don't teach values," Boyle said.
"The values here are taught
through the actions of administra¬
tion, faculty and staff on campus."
The, Title IX decision was an
expression of the values at FSU
according to Boyle.
"The fact that we are respond¬
ing positively to Title IX is a state¬
ment of our values," Boyle said.
"We believe that male and fe¬
male sports should have the same
level ofoppOTtunity.""
In his Academic Assembly Ad¬
dress, President John Welty. said,
"It is important that we listen to
the messages of these reports."
Welty and other administrators
will begin looking at assessment
processes to improve existing pro-
grams.
•