Lumina: Today’s Reality Looks a Lot Like Yesterday’s. And the Day Before That…

A recent study from the Lumina Foundation entitled “Today’s Reality” concludes that we must do more for those students whom we used to call “non-traditional.”  The study points out that today’s students are older, often work, have family obligations, and are increasingly students of color.    But wait, this was true for yesterday’s students, too.  And the same was true for students a decade ago, and even further back than that.  The report also suggests ways to address the issues attendant to “today’s” learners.  The proposed solutions are as old as the demographic data. 

More disappointing, however, is the fact that the president of a reputable university took the Lumina report as one departure point for a discussion (read: redundant rehash) of issues such as the value of the credit hour system and the need for flexible formats for students.  We have known that adult learners are different from 18-year-olds since at least 1976, when Dr. John Sperling gave life to University of Phoenix.  Phoenix and other institutions have spent decades developing systems to serve these “non-traditional” students. Was anyone watching?

Still more disappointing is that the online newspaper Evolllution, which touts itself as being “exclusively for and by those who understand higher education best,” published all of this as if it were somehow new information.  A simple Google search would have shown otherwise.  All of this goes to the point that American higher education needs to stop talking and start doing.  The same goes for those who report on it.