– Melissa K. Downes and Jeanne M. Slattery
What are we thinking about this week? We leave you with two figures summarizing national data that, frankly, appall us. The next time that someone says to us that we are making unfair comparisons between our own undergraduate careers and our students, we might agree in part, but only in part.
Consider these data, then share your own thoughts. Ours are too disturbed to share at present.

Average study time for full-time students at four-year US colleges by institution type and selectivity, 1961 and 2003 (Babcock & Marks, 2010)
References
Babcock, P., & Marks, M. (2010). Leisure College, USA: The decline in student study time. American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Education Outlook, No. 7.
Rojstaczer, S. (n.d.). Grade inflation at American colleges and universities. Retrieved from http://www.gradeinflation.com/
Melissa K. Downes is an associate professor of English at Clarion University. She loves teaching. She is interested in talking about how people teach and enjoys sharing how she teaches. She is an 18th century specialist, an Anglophile, a cat lover, and a poet. She can be contacted at mdownes@clarion.edu
Jeanne M. Slattery is a professor of psychology at Clarion University. She is interested in thinking about what makes teaching and learning successful, and sees herself as a learner-centered teacher. She has written two books, Counseling diverse clients: Bringing context into therapy, and Empathic counseling: Meaning, context, ethics, and skill. Trauma, meaning, and spirituality: Research and clinical perspectives will be coming out this fall. She can be contacted at jslattery@clarion.edu
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