Survey says students don’t spend time studying
Charlotte Hsu
Issue date: 2/3/03 Section: News
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(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES — This year’s freshman class studied less in high school than any class in at least 37 years, a new UCLA study says.
According to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, a record-high number of students spent fewer than six hours doing homework their senior year of high school, with 15.9 percent of students reporting they studied less than one hour per week.
Despite not studying as much, over 45 percent of entering freshmen at four-year colleges and universities in 2002 reported earning an “A” average in high school.
“What we’re finding is students are able to get better grades than ever before and put less time into studying,” said Linda Sax, a UCLA education professor, who directed the survey.
Students are more informed about what it takes to get an A, Sax said, which sometimes means contesting grades with teachers or having parents speak with teachers about students’ grades in high school. There is an increase in focus on actual grades, paired with a decrease in focus on good study habits to earn those grades, Sax said.
“It’s just not as hard to get an A as it used to be in high school,” Sax said.
These dwindling rigors of high school may leave many lacking readiness for college.
“In high school, it was more mechanical work, but (in college) you have to read and learn material,” said Kay Lee, a first-year aerospace engineering student.
First-year electrical engineering student Brian Cheung earned a high GPA and spent 10 hours a week studying during high school.
“I came from a pretty competitive high school,” Cheung said. “Most students were pretty concerned about their GPAs.”
With the amount of studying he did, Cheung said he found it easy to be successful academically during his high school years.
Sax offered another possible explanation for a decrease in the amount of time students studied, citing survey results indicating an increase in computer use among students.
According to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, a record-high number of students spent fewer than six hours doing homework their senior year of high school, with 15.9 percent of students reporting they studied less than one hour per week.
Despite not studying as much, over 45 percent of entering freshmen at four-year colleges and universities in 2002 reported earning an “A” average in high school.
“What we’re finding is students are able to get better grades than ever before and put less time into studying,” said Linda Sax, a UCLA education professor, who directed the survey.
Students are more informed about what it takes to get an A, Sax said, which sometimes means contesting grades with teachers or having parents speak with teachers about students’ grades in high school. There is an increase in focus on actual grades, paired with a decrease in focus on good study habits to earn those grades, Sax said.
“It’s just not as hard to get an A as it used to be in high school,” Sax said.
These dwindling rigors of high school may leave many lacking readiness for college.
“In high school, it was more mechanical work, but (in college) you have to read and learn material,” said Kay Lee, a first-year aerospace engineering student.
First-year electrical engineering student Brian Cheung earned a high GPA and spent 10 hours a week studying during high school.
“I came from a pretty competitive high school,” Cheung said. “Most students were pretty concerned about their GPAs.”
With the amount of studying he did, Cheung said he found it easy to be successful academically during his high school years.
Sax offered another possible explanation for a decrease in the amount of time students studied, citing survey results indicating an increase in computer use among students.