For more than half a century, a UCLA-based research group has been conducting surveys of incoming first-year college students. We have many questions about the decision process students go through when applying, as well as their expectations and priorities. Data tables for the 2022 survey from UCLA's Institute for Higher Education are available here.
Here we will focus on one question to ask about what the purpose of life is. The first column shows the overall response, and the other two columns are divided into responses from men and women. (These figures are taken from several different tables. The underlying tables provide many other breakdowns for those who want to know more.)
It's worth remembering that survey responses are always a mix of what a person actually believes and what they feel is the desired or appropriate answer. With that in mind, it is interesting to consider the gender disparity here. For example, male freshmen are significantly more likely to list „supporting a family'' and „succeeding in one's business'' as essential or very important. Along with a variety of other social goals, such as „working to reduce economic inequality,“ „working to reduce social inequality,“ and „improving understanding of other cultures and countries,“ women They are particularly likely to emphasize „working to improve gender equality.“ „Support to promote racial understanding,'' „Participate in community action programs,'' „Stay up to date on political developments,'' „Participate in programs to clean up the environment,'' „Facing challenges.'' Help people.”
With this difference in mind, it is interesting to note that „being very financially well-off“ is by far the highest rating for both male and female freshmen (although the overall I don't know why the average is lower than men (and women were taken separately). And what's interesting is that while women's responses emphasize social goals, men are slightly more likely to emphasize the goal of „developing a meaningful philosophy of life.“
One of the big changes over the last few decades has been these two answers to „being financially well off“ and „cultivating a meaningful philosophy of life.“back in 1985 survey, the survey report includes this figure. In a 1966 study, developing a meaningful philosophy of life was a top priority for far more college freshmen. But priorities changed, the lines crossed in the late 1970s, and by the 1980s „the very economically well-off“ became largely dominant.
what's happening?I would like to share with you my impressions and reactions.
1) One reason is the dramatic change in the gender mix.return In a 1966 studyonly 31.6% of women cited „being very financially well off“ as a top priority compared to 54.1% of men.
2) The U.S. economy suffered from „stagflation“ of high inflation and unemployment in the 1970s, perhaps making fiscal concerns more pronounced. Fiscal concerns have continued to rise to prominence in recent decades due to the Great Recession and the pandemic recession.
3) The cost of higher education has increased dramatically.as As I have pointed out in the pastIn the late 1970s, when I was thinking about college, I had a lot of friends who were attending a large local state university, in my case the University of Minnesota. At the time, I was able to cover my full tuition and living expenses at U of M by taking a full-time, minimum wage job during the summer and working 10 hours a week while in school. This is no longer true at the University of Minnesota, much less at expensive private universities. As college tuition becomes more expensive, students may become more focused on their financial goals.
Four) In the 1960s, the percentage of high school students who immediately entered a higher education program the following year was about 45%. Before the pandemic, it was close to 70%. before getting off. My guess is that a significant portion of this enrollment growth was due to people more interested in financial goals than in a „meaningful philosophy of life.“
5) Student priorities shape the university's intellectual climate.
6) What's interesting to me is that the survey questions don't just ask about being „wealthy,“ they also ask about being „very wealthy.“ There will also be a distribution of economic results. Perhaps being in the middle of that distribution, say between the 40th and 60th percentiles, could be considered „wealthy.“ But it seems to me that when people talk about being „very wealthy,“ they are thinking about being at the top of the economic ladder. Statistically, it is impossible for all college students to ultimately reach the top of the economic ladder. Anyone can develop a meaningful philosophy of life. In contrast, it is statistically impossible to make her 85% of college students extremely wealthy.