The Future of Education

Higher Education is facing some profound difficulties.  Research strongly suggests that (a) higher education curriculums have become increasingly fragmented and (b) specialized.  Students (c) are less academically prepared and; (d) more academically and emotionally fragile; they (e) study less frequently than in earlier periods; (f) are more demographically diverse; and (g) leave college with limited learning.  Recent trends toward online classes, the use of educational technologies, and student-centered learning have produced mixed results.  The level of support and direction provided by colleges is often insufficient to meet the needs of both mainstream and underprepared students.

The Mastery-Based Compass Program at Merrimack College is a college bridge program that serves 65 academically under-prepared students per year. Students gain a full year of college credit by participating in a highly-structured, interdisciplinary academic and socio-emotional milieu.  The program is organized around the holistic concept of self-cultivation and mastery through guided persistence.  As a holistic program, it brings together academic, motivational and socio-moral aspects of student development.  Instead of being organized around grades and tests, the program is organized around guided mastery: students engage in projects and activities designed to foster higher-level reading, writing, active listening/note-taking, critical analysis skills.  Students revise their work continuously over the year with an eye toward gradual improvement rather than mere grade attainment. Every interaction is organized around the goals of promoting a “growth” rather than “fixed” mindset; fostering persisting through difficulty; and fostering incremental progress in academic, socio-emotional skills, self-understanding and academic motivation.

In this paper, drawing on both quantitative and ethnographic evidence, I show how the process of guided mastery leads to (a) changes in student “mindsets” from “fixed” to “growth”; (b) quantifiable differences in writing skills, (c) transformations on self-understanding and identity; (d) increased levels of persistence and academic toughness; and (e) academic success as measured through grades and student retention.  It is indeed possible for higher education to produce academic and self transformation in students; doing so requires the articulation and application of a holistic vision of who we want our students to become, and the will to foster student self-cultivation toward that vision.