This past Thursday marked the release of the annual Freshman
Survey conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program which is a
part of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. The report was
generated from responses from 153,015 first-time, full-time freshmen at 227
undergraduate institutions during registration, orientation, or the first few
weeks of class.
The survey examined the student’s openness to diversity and
experiences with people from different backgrounds. “More than half of black
students (57%) but less than a third of white students (29%) considered it
important to help promote racial understanding.” This finding is important to
consider in relation to our reading from Denison which discusses campus
climate. Denison defines climate as a “psychological climate of members, social
psychological set of conditions, and objective and structural set of
conditions.” It is fair to say that the
dramatic changes in student desires and competencies will influence the climate
of everyone’s campus experience.
Some highlights include the very important “desire to be
financially well off”, which has increased from 44% in 1974 to 82% in 2014.
Another dramatic development is the “desire to develop a meaningful philosophy
of life” has decreased from 65% to 45% over the past 40 years. Aside from
changes in values and desires, data also suggested that students’ emotional
insecurity is at an all-time high. In response to this insecurity students are
now emphasizing their desire to attend institutions that highlight social
activities. These changes in student’s social competencies could be partially
correlated with the increase of social media and online communication among
students entering college.
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