The Declining Work Ethic of the American Engineering Student S. Michael Wells 1

Abstract – The work ethic of our American engineering freshmen has been declining consistently for decades. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey and other sources document the many negative trends in our students—trends that set habits and continue into the students’ college experience. The survey shows that High School grade inflation is steadily on the rise and students are studying less. Adding to the problem is the practice of social promotion in our public school systems, and the unconstructive interference from parents. Because our nation’s high schools are requiring less of students, incoming engineering freshmen are ill prepared to perform well at our universities, working to the detriment of the students and putting the future of our nation at risk.

Keywords: declining, work, ethic, grade, inflation

EVIDENCE THERE IS A PROBLEM

Many of us who have been engineering educators for many years have observed the decline in the quality and attitude of students. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey, generally regarded as the most authoritative source on the state of the American college student, has been gathering information on college freshmen since the 1960s. One of the findings is that from 1987 to 2003, the percent of students saying they had studied six or more hours per week in high school fell from 47% to 34.9% [1]. That trend is even more disturbing when it is considered that in 2003, 44.1% of the students stated they had had an “A” average in high school—up from 17.6% in 1968. Is it likely our youth have so improved in their mental abilities in the last few decades that they can genuinely earn more than two and half times as many “A’s” as their predecessors who studied nearly half again as much? SAT verbal and math scores over the same period suggest not . Figure 1 illustrates that from 1972 to 2003 math scores have remained nearly level, and verbal scores have actually declined.

At Tennessee Tech University a survey was given to 68 students the first semester of their freshmen year, in which their written opinions were solicited regarding the above statistics. With the exception of two students, all agreed there was a problem, and many expressed disappointment or anger that high school had not better prepared them for college. One of the two students who felt she had not been shortchanged in her high school experience had gone to a costly private school since the age of three. The other student felt young people of today are mentally superior to young people of decades past, and he also felt much of education is a waste of time. Nearly all the students stated that they had rarely been challenged in high school; many wrote they had “A” averages without ever having studied outside of class. As a result, in the eyes of many of those in hiring and higher education, a high school diploma is little more than a certificate of attendance [2].

Many educators are aware of the problem. According to the CIRP survey, only half of American faculty today expresses satisfaction with the quality of their students, and just 36% felt most of their students could be described as well prepared academically. Yet the 2004 CIRP Freshman Survey found that 70% of today’s entering college students rate themselves as “above average” or “highest 10%” academically. There are, however, variations among

1 Tennessee Tech University, Box 5002 TTU, Cookeville, TN, 38505, [email protected]

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference faculty at different types of colleges and universities. In general, faculty at two and four-year colleges are the least inclined to view their students as academically well prepared. Private university faculties, by contrast, at a

Comparison of Verbal and Math SAT Scores

530 520 510 500 490 480 470 Score 460 450 440 430 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 Year Verbal_Total Math_Total

Figure 1 rate of 67% consider their students well prepared academically [3]. This is perhaps more related to the background of students who attend private universities than to the perceptions of the faculty at those institutions. More highly educated and affluent parents can more easily afford to send their children to a private university as opposed to a local two-year or four-year college. One of the incentives for parents to send their children to a local public two or four-year school is the savings in cost in both tuition and housing. Another incentive is that two and four-year community colleges are known to be more accommodating to students needing remedial courses. Therefore, lower income parents, and parents with children less prepared academically, are more likely to send their children to local community colleges.

Figures 2 and 3 resulted from a survey given to 68 freshmen engineering students at Tennessee Tech University regarding their attitudes toward what is important to succeed in college and how they spend their time. Although the students indicate work ethic to be the most important element for success, they do not set aside a large number of hours for study. When polled informally, the students overwhelmingly respond that reading the text and homework are not the primary means by which they do most of their learning. Instead, listening in class, which is probably how most of them learned in high school, is how they pass their courses.

FACTORS CAUSING THE DECLINE OF OUR STUDENTS ’ WORK ETHIC

It is only when students enter our universities as freshmen that they gain primary control of the direction of their lives for the first time. Until that day, most have been under the direct control of their parents and limited to the mandatory academic experience of their elementary, middle, and high schools. In some instances, the parents chose, or allowed their children to choose, to attend a private school. Other families have opted for the home-school experience. But the majority of students experience the public schools shaped by political and cultural forces in our society. Here will be discussed negative influences on the American public school system, and how those influences have worked to instill poor work habits in our youth and thereby undermine their chances to do well at a university.

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference

Percent of Students Rating a Specific Factor as Being Most Essential to Succeeding in College

45 40 35 30 25 20

Percentage 15 10 5 0 Work Ethic Intelligence Quality of High School Other Instructors Background

Figure 2

Average Hours per Week Students Spend on a Given Activity

18 16 14 12 10 8

Hours / Week 6 4 2 0 English job Graphics Duties Course Intro to Chemistry Scholarship w-Family Engineering Humanitites Physical Ed. Mathematics Working at a Other Studies Programming Spending time

Figure 3

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference Grade Inflation Before College Just twenty or thirty years ago, the American public school system was the envy of the world. Now the lowering of standards, resulting in grade inflation, has eroded its quality. There are several reasons why this is happening. First, there is no short-term disadvantage to the school systems promoting students to the next higher grade and inflating the students’ grades: the students are happy, the parents are happy, and there is no one left to complain. On the other hand, teachers holding their students to high standards become unpopular, may risk not getting tenure if they get too many complaints, and could even be faced with a lawsuit from disgruntled parents. Up until the 1960s, teachers were granted considerable respect from both students and parents. Often students, who did poorly in class or misbehaved, would incur further discipline from their parents when word reached home. In more recent decades, that has changed. Now a teacher not giving an “A” grade is just as likely to be accused by the child’s parents of being unfair or unreasonable. The very real threat of lawsuits has school administrators running scared. It is far easier for them to encourage teachers to be overly generous in their grading, and lax in their discipline, than to risk a costly lawsuit.

As a result, many high schools no longer have just one Valedictorian, but several. In discussions with Tennessee Tech students on this subject, one student stated that in her graduating class of 190 students, there were ten Valedictorians; another student stated that his class of about the same size had nine; and another student from a class of approximately 90 students stated there were four Valedictorians. In the last case, the school administrators had initially chosen only one Valedictorian, whose academic achievements were clearly superior to the next three students tied for second place below him. But one of those three students had a mother who was a teacher at the same school, and she threatened to sue unless her child was also declared Valedictorian. Taking the path of least resistance, the administrators granted the demand and therefore also had to grant Valedictorian status to the other two with tying grade point averages. Thus, the student who had clearly deserved the honor above the other three was denied that distinction, as all four students were declared Valedictorian. Sadly, that outcome of such a conflict results in a degrading of the otherwise prestigious title of Valedictorian. Likewise, it is a similar policy of appeasement that leads to grade inflation, poor work ethic, and a devaluing of high school diplomas.

Social promotion is another trend gaining in acceptance in recent years, and also works against rewarding students for a good work ethic. Often teachers will promote a student to the next grade simply to be rid of the problem and avoid a conflict. In some school systems, social promotion is legitimized by the administrations as the official policy. Again, in such cases there is no one to complain—neither the student nor the parents will protest, and most frequently the administration will remain silent or condone the policy. There are times when the teacher may assume at least partial fault; incompetent teachers make up as much as 10% of the teacher workforce [4]. This could be expected when considering that those teachers may likewise be victims of grade inflation and poor work ethic fostered by their own educational experience.

Unfortunately, the experts have been too focused on experimental education, diversity training, evolution-instruction, and sex education to realize that 68% of students are unprepared for college. In one recent example, the Seattle Public Schools required hundreds of middle school students to participate in costly three-day long "Challenge Day" sensitivity seminars at which crying was encouraged and self-esteem was preached. One student called the seminars a "psycho cry-fest." Yet as long as money for experimental education is viewed as the only answer to failing students, schools will continue to disappoint. [5]

Grade Inflation in Our Colleges

Universities differ from the primary and secondary systems in several aspects. Attendance to a university is not mandatory; there are far fewer universities than public K-12 schools, students are older and not under the legal authority of their parents, the duration of the educational process is shorter, and students are expected to have an adult-to-adult relationship with the faculty. Nonetheless, grade inflation is clearly present at our institutions of higher learning. Because engineering is so vital to the infrastructure, economic health, and national security of our nation, the effects of grade inflation and declining worth ethic among our students is of grave concern, and the evidence is clear that grade inflation is taking place.

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference

At Harvard, roughly half of all course grades now are A or A-, and 91% of seniors graduate with honors [6]. Some in higher education believe grade inflation is no problem; it makes students happier, professors are more popular, and parents are less apt to notice the inflation in tuition charges. Opposed to that is the view that “feel-good” grading is a loss to all three parties, in both college and high school. Those who lose most are the truly superior students, who are no longer clearly differentiated from those just fairly good. A system that makes getting high grades easier reduces learning incentives at all levels. The problem is exacerbated because educators are encouraged to feel guilty about past oppression of women and minorities, and are loath to grade them strictly; having failed to do so, they then feel obliged to apply the same generous standards to other students [6]. Many suspect that the rise in college tuition has been a catalyst for grade inflation. It is true that as college tuitions have increased, grade inflation has correspondingly been on the increase as well—perhaps subconsciously with the goal of muting complaints about the costs [7].

It is commonly accepted that college grade inflation began in earnest in the 1960s, when professors were reluctant to give potential Vietnam draftees failing grades and thus send them off to war. Once grades began to inflate for the young men, the generosity spread to others by the faculty members’ sense of fairness. Unfortunately, once grade inflation starts, it is difficult for the trend to reverse.

Other Factors Affecting Student Work Ethic

While grade inflation is arguably the single greatest disincentive for students to study hard, there are also other factors contributing to the decline of student work ethic. The emphasis in our education system, even at the collegiate level in some courses, on promoting self-esteem, regardless of the circumstances or accomplishments of the student, has gone far in making students less accountable. For example, American students feel better about their performance in math tests than Korean students—even though the Korean students outperform Americans significantly on the same tests. [5].

The increasing trend for some parents to engage themselves very actively with the day-by-day activities of their offspring at college is seen by many as a retardant for the maturing process of the student. Recently tagged as “helicopter parents” in the press because they hover over their children, such parents are becoming more prevalent with each passing year. Many are involved in the registration process, even filling out the course lists and other forms for their children, and some are now injecting their opinions into the grading process. This was something virtually unheard of ten or fifteen years ago, and many in higher education see it as a negative development.

The increase in cheating on college campuses is another factor detrimental to student work ethic and performance. At many universities, cheating is so rampant that some students feel they have to do it in order to survive. On the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers, only 80 cases of cheating are typically reported each year, despite there being 33,500 students enrolled [8]. One study found clear evidence of more cheating on exams among fraternity and sorority members than nonmembers and that cheating among female students had increased from 63% to 70% from 1963 to 1993 [9].

For engineering students, in particular, there is always present in their minds the option of switching majors to business. The curriculum is not nearly as rigorous; jobs are plentiful, and business graduates are perceived to make about the same salary as engineering graduates [10]. For many engineering students whose poor high school preparation or inadequate work ethic causes them to struggle with the math required in engineering, a switch to business is a relatively easy alternative to exerting themselves intensively to improve their work ethic to succeed in engineering. Rather than do that, and rather than admitting failure in college, they simply change majors. At most universities where engineering is offered, the affiliated business colleges benefit from the large number of students making the switch; business college deans only half-joking when they refer to engineering colleges as being their best source for students.

Another reason the work ethic of the American engineering student is declining is the abundance of alternative jobs available to almost anyone willing to work. An improvement in work ethic has to come about because the student

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference sees the need. When students see or hear, for example, about plumbers averaging over twenty dollars per hour [10], often with little or no formal training, it works to make the engineering degree seem less valuable, and therefore makes an urgent push to change their work ethic less appealing. Our nation is facing what many see as a crisis from illegal immigrants from Mexico taking jobs, yet many argue that those jobs for illegal immigrants are here because Americans are too affluent or lazy to take the jobs themselves. It is our very affluence, and the diminished work ethic that comes with it, that has worked to help cause our nation’s youth to have such a poor work ethic.

OUTLOOK FOR THE FUTURE

There is growing concern that complacency will lead the United States to losing its global scientific pre-eminence within a decade. On the subject, Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, commented, “The US is like a frog that is slowly boiling in water. It doesn't jump out because it doesn't notice it is about to die.” China and India are investing heavily in their university systems; China produces eight times as many graduate engineers as the US, and India five times as many. Furthermore, American students are falling behind: 12th-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general mathematics and science knowledge [11]. According to a survey of electronics design professionals, American engineers are worried about job security and fearful that the nation may be losing its technological lead over foreign rivals. Only 1 in 10 respondents felt that “the United States will always maintain its technology leadership position.” [12]

Meanwhile, according to another study by the CIRP, fewer college students today are completing college in four years than was the case a decade ago. Among the freshmen that entered baccalaureate-granting colleges in fall 1994, only 36.4% were able to complete their bachelor’s degrees within four years (compared to 39.9% a decade earlier and 46.7% in the late 1960s). The degree completion rate jumps by nearly two-thirds—to 58.8%—if students are allowed six years to complete college, and to 61.6% if those who are still enrolled after six years are counted as “completers.” [1]

Throughout the Federal government, as well as in the private sector, the challenge faced by a shortage of scientists and engineers is a very real problem growing daily. The NSF statistics show that graduate enrollment in engineering, physical and earth sciences, and math declined between 1993 and 2000. Likewise, from the mid-1990s to 2000, engineering and physics doctorates declined by 15% and 22%, respectively [13].

The United States has not been alone in this problem. For years, Germany, like many other countries, lost manufacturing jobs to China and other low-wage countries in Asia and Eastern Europe. Yet its engineering sector remained a safe haven, one of the few areas where the country could hold its own globally. Highly paid German engineers proved their worth with a steady stream of innovations, including the world's fastest train, designed by Siemens and ThyssenKrupp AG. But now engineering jobs are beginning to move abroad from Germany as well. “If the Chinese can produce high tech at low cost, one has to consider where that's going to lead,” said Siemens Chief Executive Heinrich von Pierer, who in May announced plans to hire 1,000 Chinese engineers this year and invest about $1.23 billion in China. “In Germany, we have to ask ourselves what we have to offer” [14].

CONCLUSION

While the declining work ethic of our engineering students is cause for concern, there is hope that as the crisis grows more visible, the American people will respond. When many of the statistics of this paper are put before the incoming freshman students at Tennessee Tech University, nearly all the students agree there is a problem and they express a willingness to overcome it. In talks with prospective students and their parents, the same attitude is found: they, too, acknowledge there is a problem with the high school experience. Some parents have even inquired about the availability of optional summer programs to help prepare their children for the transition to college, and which will help them dedicate themselves to a higher work ethic.

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference In addition, engineering education does have in ABET a moderate safeguard against rampant and abrupt grade inflation, and therefore enjoys an advantage over other majors. Those majors outside the hard sciences do not enjoy such a safeguard, for judgment and grading of those students’ success are highly subjective. Grade inflation is therefore an even greater problem for those disciplines.

The solution to this problem will not be an easy one, primarily because there are short-term financial incentives to stay the present course. As has been explained above, administrators, teachers, students and their parents, all have incentives to let students slide by—ultimately because it is easier, and because there are no obvious and immediate negative consequences from doing so. This has led to a weak work ethic in many or most of the incoming freshmen to our universities.

Tougher standardized testing, higher entrance standards to our universities, and more of an emphasis on remedial courses where needed, are remedies suggested by some. At Tennessee Tech University, and in fact the entire university system in Tennessee, plans are underway to implement a University course 1020 for the fall of 2006, the goals of which are to better acclimate freshmen to the university experience. The course will require students to attend cultural events on campus, encourage them to participate in student organizations, and teach them study skills. One of the expected outcomes is that students will more easily adjust to being in college, and will persevere and succeed in higher percentages.

REFERENCES [1] Astin, Alexander W, “The American Freshman: Thirty-Five Year Trends,” Higher Education Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, December 2002. [2] “Coalition: High school diplomas losing meaning,” (Feb. 10, 2004) Associated Press, http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/10/high.school.diplomas.ap/index.html [3] Lindholm, J.A., K. Szelenyi, S. Hurtado and W.S. Korn, “The American College Teacher: National Norms for the 2004-2005 HERI Faculty Survey,” Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, 2005. [4] McGrath, Mary Jo, “Effective Evaluation,” Thrust for Educational Leadership , 1995, pgs 36-41. [5] Zeiger, Hans, “Failing Public Schools,” (Feb. 9, 2004), Available from: http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3121.html [6] Seligman, Dan, “The Grade-Inflation Swindle,” Forbes Magazine, March 18, 2002, Number 06. [7] Leo, John, “A for Effort, Or for Showing Up,” U.S. News and World Report, October 18, 1993, p.22. [8] Fishbein, Leslie, “We can curb college cheating,” The Education Digest , 1994. [9] McCabe, Donald Lee and William J. Bowers, “The relationship between student cheating and college fraternity or sorority membership,” NASPA Journal , 1996. [10] “National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates,” (2004) US Department of Labor, Available from: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm [11] “US science may be in crisis,” NewScientist.com, October 22, 2005, Available from: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg18825223.400 . [12] Abate, Tom, “Tech engineers fear U.S. is falling behind Pace of outsourcing leaves them nervous about their jobs”, (November 14, 2005), Associated Press, Available from: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi- bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/14/BUGM8FM6BK1.DTL&type=business . [13] Teitelbaum, Michael S., “The U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce: An Unconventional Portrait,” GUIRR Summit, Pan-Organizational Summit on the U.S. Science and Engineering Workforce, Washington, D.C., November 12, 2002, Available from: http://www.phds.org/reading/guirr2002/teitelbaum.html . [14] Karnitschnig, Matthew, “Competition for Engineers Raises Concerns Overseas,” CareerJournal.com , July 27, 2004, http://www.careerjournal.com/salaryhiring/industries/engineers/20040727-karnitschnig.html .

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference S. Michael Wells S. Michael Wells is an Assistant Professor of Basic Engineering at Tennessee Technological University. He received the BS degree in Electrical Engineering and the MS degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Tennessee. He has taught engineering success skills, computer programming, engineering graphics, and various industrial engineering and industrial technology courses since 1980. His current research interests are in student motivation and retention .

2006 ASEE Southeast Section Conference