The results are in from the fall semester, and it looks like Hillsdale students are making better grades.
Dean of Women CarolAnn Barker, who earns friendly flack from her administrative comrades for her excitement at poring over grade reports during Christmas break each year, said she was pleased to see improvements in the students' overall GPA, which rose from a 3.076 to a 3.153 last semester.
However, she said she was particularly impressed by the freshman class, who outperformed last year's freshman class, both male and female.
Current freshmen entered Hillsdale with the highest GPA and SAT scores in recent Hillsdale history, and have lived up to their brainy reputation so far, the unofficial grade report indicates.
Although the freshman women increased their average from 3.013 in 2003 to 3.071 in 2004, the real breakthrough came from the freshman men, whose grade point jumped from 2.664 to 2.885.
Each year Dean of Men Aaron Petersen and Barker engage in fierce but friendly competition over whether men or women will earn the highest grades.
Although the freshmen men made impressive strides last semester, Barker points to the women's still-higher GPA as proof that “women are innately smarter than men.”
As to why freshman women consistently outperform freshman men, Petersen quipped, “We don't know. It defies all the laws of nature. Also, boys are better than girls, regardless of that stupid report.”
Quipping aside, however, a recent report released by ACT, Inc. indicated that many high school students are entering college without insufficient knowledge of English, math, and science.
Barker said that although the majority of Hillsdale students do not fit this category, roughly 5 to 10 percent of freshman struggle to meet college expectations. Most have difficulties with English and history, followed by math and science classes.
“Usually these students have gone to a non-challenging high school and get good grades and test scores, but come floundering in by the end of October asking for help,” she said. “They don't know how to study or manage time.”
However, Barker notes, fewer women were put on academic probation this fall than in past semesters, despite being very involved in extra-curricular activities.
Barker describes the class as well-adjusted.
“They've not been a whiney class,” she said. “You get classes with personalities, and this class hasn't whined, they've just jumped in and taken off. They've been very accepting and enthusiastic.”
Stephen Smith, assistant professor of English, said that students in his freshman English classes have performed at about the norm for first semester newcomers.
“I seem to go through the same number of Kleenex boxes each year,” he joked, not specifying whether it was he or his students that required tissues.
Smith said the most prevalent issue among freshman classes each year is writing deficiency.
“We hope that by the end of freshman year that existing problems with writing will be corrected, or at least dealt with,” he said, adding that by the end of freshman year most students display significant improvement in their writing.
“It's sort of like a Shakespearean comedy in two acts—first and second semester,” he said.
Associate Professor of History Paul Moreno said he credits lack of clarity in writing to lack of clarity in the students' thinking processes.
“The recurrent administrative concern about writing is a symptom of undeveloped thinking and reading habits,” he said. “Students need more exposure to great ideas and their best expression, and not just in fits and starts—it needs to become habitual, a way of life, an addiction, second nature.”
Moreno said the performance of freshman in his Western Heritage classes was on par with classes of previous years, but noted a compression of grades—fewer students earned either very high or very low marks.
Barker, who has served as an academic counselor to students for 22 years said she thinks high school seniors should be encouraged to take “the hardest classes they can find” to continue preparing for college.
However, freshman Blake England said he was still unprepared for Hillsdale professors' writing standards despite taking English and writing courses at The University of Findlay, Ohio during his senior year of high school.
Freshman Megan Howard said she found college courses to be comparable to Advanced Placement courses she took in high school, but was disappointed with her first semester grades.
“I wish we would've done more writing in high school,” she said.
“But hopefully I'll do better next semester—I'm learning how to write to professors' tastes.”
The attrition rate of the freshman class—roughly 4 percent—is also slightly less this year, Barker said.
Most of these are students who transfer to either larger schools or community colleges near home.