Here is the story.
The Least Economically Diverse Top College, Seeking to Change – NYTimes.com.
But it says lots of things. Look here or here or here or here or here or here or here or just do a search for them on this blog.
Here was the comment I posted on the article.
This all sounds good, but after years of teaching at Wash. U, I’m highly suspicious. Here are some reasons for everyone to be suspicious.
They boasted in a cover article in their A&S Magazine that they work hard to keep students in STEM courses. Their prime example was a physics prof who “..brought a new way of teaching to campus..[students] hear one or more 10-minute lectures …talk about two-minute problems in groups..[and] were clamoring to get in..”
Here are some student comments about this class (that is required of engineers),
“if you ask..questions during exams, he’ll answer them for you in full detail..”
“His tests are extremely easy, and are untimed.”
Then this,
“It was touted as the best at WU, but … I did not learn much.. I am a Physics major and am worried…”
This is typical. When I wrote to a Eng. Dean of Academic Integrity that the students who didn’t do well on an exam were the ones who cheated on the homework, he wrote back not to “discourage” them, that “retention” was important.
Wash. U. has a 3-2 engineering program. It takes very little to participate. Look it up.
When Chancellor Wrighton came back from a White House Summit on Higher Education, the Wash. U. Magazine wrote that “Wash. U.’s average financial aid package for students with need nearly doubled over the last decade.” To see how misleading this is, read my blog post on it.
Details of these stories are on my blog inside-higher-ed . I especially recommend “A Tale Out of School”.
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