Educators locally are assessing what gaps to fill for students in what seemed like the first normal year of school since the Covid-19 pandemic began. Monmouth College President Dr. Clarence Wyatt said this year’s incoming freshmen needed resources and support to help them get back on track of traditional learning:
“Incoming freshmen were freshmen in high school when COVID hit. They have not had a normal educational experience and we see a lot of it. We have students, some of our first year students this past year, had never written a paper. They didn’t have to turn in assignments or if they turned in assignments, they turned them all in at the end of the semester. So, time management skills, all those things are just really out of whack. We are going to be feeling the effects of this for a long time, which is one of the reasons we have really been investing in our Academic Career in Excellence Center to provide those kinds of support for our students.”
Wyatt said Monmouth College is like many other nation wide colleges and universities and facing a slow-down in the number of students attending college.
“We are feeling that and it is a national phenomenon and it is particularly acute in Illinois because Illinois is the highest exporter of high school graduates among the 50 states. We are feeling that. The traditional college age of population is declining nationally, but particularly in the Midwest. There are 16 percent fewer students attending college in the fall of 2022 then in the fall of 2019.”
Many colleges like Monmouth are contemplating the option for some degrees to be obtained in three years instead of four.
