College Freshmen and Problem Solving in Arithmetic
H. C. Christofferson · The Journal of Educational Research · 1930
In the face of dire lamentations on the poor preparation of college freshmen a note of optimism should be eagerly accepted. The following data came from the results of giving the Buckingham Scale for Problems in Arithmetic to 99 college freshmen. A glance at Table I will show that the median for the group was considerably above the eighth-grade standard at the beginning of the year, 58 percent of the college freshmen were above that standard. When one considers that this test was given to a group of freshmen without notice during the first month of school when sorority and fraternity rushing was at its height and these young people were making all sorts of new adjustments the wonder is not that they did so poorly but that they did so well. Add to this the fact that most of these students had had no arithmetic for at least four years, that many of them had had neither algebra nor geometry in high school at all, and also add the fact that the Buckingham test contains some very unreal material, and you will not criticise severely but take pride in their achievement.