Ivy League Attrition

[DGS49]

When I was a lad, "better" colleges took pride in the fact that not everyone who started out made it through. If they didn't make the required grades, they would go on probation, and without improvement, they were expelled for academic failure.

I personally went to the University of Pittsburgh, and when I started in 1967, they were quite happy with the fact that fewer than half of the incoming Freshmen would graduate. The rest would fail out.

There is a famous scene in the film, The Paper Chase, where the learned Professor tells the students to look to their left and right, and realize that of the three of them, only one would graduate (from Harvard Law School). The others (2/3) would fail out.

Many years ago, my son looked into transferring from Pitt to Columbia. His grades were good, and they had a program that he liked. He was advised that they accept almost no incoming transfers because they "had no room."

So what is the deal now? You never hear of anyone failing out of a "good" School. Of these youngsters in the news whose parents paid money to get them into "good" schools, I haven't seen any indication that any of them failed out.

And if you can't fail out, what does that say about the "academic rigor" of the school? Not much, I'm afraid.

So what's the deal? Is there still any academic attrition at "good" schools, or is that passe? Do they simply "figure out a way" to keep the kid in school?

 

[MarathonMike]

When I was a lad, "better" colleges took pride in the fact that not everyone who started out made it through. If they didn't make the required grades, they would go on probation, and without improvement, they were expelled for academic failure.

I personally went to the University of Pittsburgh, and when I started in 1967, they were quite happy with the fact that fewer than half of the incoming Freshmen would graduate. The rest would fail out.

There is a famous scene in the film, The Paper Chase, where the learned Professor tells the students to look to their left and right, and realize that of the three of them, only one would graduate (from Harvard Law School). The others (2/3) would fail out.

Many years ago, my son looked into transferring from Pitt to Columbia. His grades were good, and they had a program that he liked. He was advised that they accept almost no incoming transfers because they "had no room."

So what is the deal now? You never hear of anyone failing out of a "good" School. Of these youngsters in the news whose parents paid money to get them into "good" schools, I haven't seen any indication that any of them failed out.

And if you can't fail out, what does that say about the "academic rigor" of the school? Not much, I'm afraid.

So what's the deal? Is there still any academic attrition at "good" schools, or is that passe? Do they simply "figure out a way" to keep the kid in school?

They just switch out to easier majors. Gotta keep them enrolled to maximize income for the school.

 

[Moonglow]

Maybe they were smarter than yous?

 

[MarathonMike]

Maybe they were smarter than yous?

Welcome back from the slammer

 

[DGS49]

My suspicion is that, just like a High School Diploma USED TO INDICATE that you were literate and could get out of your own way, now it means essentially nothing.

A college degree used to tell an employer that, 'Here is someone who is intelligent and can accomplish reasonably challenging work with minimal supervision.' Now it indicates...what? Not sure. With all the watered down courses and majors - mainly created to prevent "affirmative action" types and student "athletes" from failing out - the fact of a generic degree (communications, literature, sociology, gender/ethnic studies, etc.) means almost nothing. No sane employer would trust the degree as a credential for any meaningful position.