In the Know
The American Freshman

This year's entering class continues to report high levels of academic disengagement, but has increased multicultural awareness and more liberal political views.

Students who began college in September 2001 continue a trend of rising academic disengagement, according to this year's study of the American freshman, conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute.

A record high 41.1 percent of those surveyed report they were bored in their high school classes, while only 34.9 percent report studying or working on assignments for more than six hours per week, the lowest figure since the question was first asked in 1987.

Yet, despite the decline in time spent studying, high school grades continue to soar, the report notes, with 44.1 percent of freshmen reporting A averages in high school, compared with 17.6 percent in 1968.

"The combination of academic disengagement and record grade inflation poses real challenges... since students are entering college with less inclination to study but with higher academic expectations than ever," notes Alexander W. Astin, the founding director of the survey.

In a more positive vein, the UCLA study finds that interracial interaction among freshman reached a record high, with 70 percent of entering students reporting they have socialized with someone of a another ethnic group in the past year—a 12 percent increase from 1992 when the question was first asked.

Continuing another trend, for the fifth straight year the proportion of students identifying themselves as liberal has increased, reaching its highest point since 1975. A record 57.9 percent say they believe same sex couples should have the right to a legal marital status and 36.5 percent agree that marijuana should be legalized.

"In short," says Astin, "what we have been seeing in the past few years is a broad-based trend toward greater liberalism on practically every attitudinal question in the survey."

An area that hit record lows was the self-ratings in physical and emotional health, with only 53.4 percent reporting their emotional health as above average.

Most of the responses to the survey were completed before September 11, the report's authors note, so the opinions expressed don't reflect students' reactions to the events on that date.

Copies of the survey, The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2001, are available on the Higher Education Research Institute Web site at www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri.