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&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Studying sucks, &lt;em&gt;amirite&lt;/em&gt;?&amp;rdquo; (&lt;em&gt;Clinks beer glass, falls asleep)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If that is a typical scenario for a business major undergrad, as this recent &lt;em&gt;Chronicle&lt;/em&gt; piece suggests it is, it might go a ways toward explaining why, among  all majors, business majors show the weakest gains in college, score the  lowest on the GMAT.&lt;img style=&quot;border: 2px solid black; float: right; margin: 7px 4px;&quot; src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/sleeping in class.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;299&quot; height=&quot;299&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the recently published book &lt;em&gt;Academically Adrift, &lt;/em&gt;authors  Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa make the case that undergraduate students  aren&amp;rsquo;t learning, but snoozing and socializing away their college years.  The worst slackers of the bunch, they found, were none other than  business majors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do business majors (minus accounting and finance) perform so  poorly? Is it because &quot;business education has come to be defined in the  minds of students as a place for developing elite social networks and  getting access to corporate recruiters,&quot; as Harvard Business School  professor Rakesh Khurana believes? That could be part of it. But it  might also have something to do with one or all of these three oft-cited  problem sources named in &lt;em&gt;The Chronicle&lt;/em&gt; piece.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Absent a passion for a specific subject, too many students choose  business as a major &amp;ldquo;by default,&amp;rdquo; or as simply a path to a job.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; In management and marketing, there&amp;rsquo;s no agreement about what students &lt;em&gt;ought&lt;/em&gt; to learn.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Operation costs are low and faculty-to-student ratios high in business  departments. Colleges are content with just maintaining the &lt;em&gt;status quo&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The suggestion is also made that the group-oriented culture of  business contributes to a less-than-rigorous learning environment, one  in which students reportedly spend less than 11 hours a week studying  out of class. What could account for the poor intellectual engagement  of business majors? Writer David Glenn has gathered a blame sample:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blame the students&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; They are anti-intellectual&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; They binge-drink more than other students&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blame the professors&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Business professors don&amp;rsquo;t assign enough homework&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; The faculty tend to expect less work from their students than their students expect from themselves&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blame the curriculum&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Too much emphasis on group work and oral presentations; not enough focus on developing individual writing and research skills&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Interdisciplinary approach is great, but often superficial&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blame no one&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; National studies are misleading (says some b-school leaders): business  students work just as hard as everyone else, they just underreport their  group study hours&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/Bullet_Point.png&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;8&quot; height=&quot;8&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Learning happens outside the classroom&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On that last point, I think it has some validity, especially for  b-school students. But I just think it&amp;rsquo;s funny that a field that  measures performance through metrics and data analysis would use  &amp;ldquo;learning happens outside the classroom&amp;rdquo; as a defense.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[The Chronicle]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;[Photo Credit: flickr/Robert S. Donovan]&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Related:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Four Years of College and Not a Lick Smarter &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://www.vault.com/VCM/blogs/f_logo.jpg&quot; alt=&quot;&quot; width=&quot;23&quot; height=&quot;23&quot;&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Like us on Facebook&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img style=&quot;display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot; src=&quot;http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_me-c.png&quot; alt=&quot;Follow VaultMBA on Twitter&quot; width=&quot;134&quot; height=&quot;23&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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The Library

The Blahs of Business Education

“Studying sucks, amirite? ” (Clinks beer glass, falls asleep)If that is a typical scenario for a business major undergrad, as this recent Chronicle piece suggests it is, it might go a ways toward explaining why, among  all majors, business majors show the weakest gains in college, score the  lowest on the GMAT.In the recently published book Academically Adrift, authors  Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa make the case that undergraduate students  aren’t learning, but snoozing and socializing away their college years.

“Studying sucks, amirite? ” (Clinks beer glass, falls asleep)If that is a typical scenario for a business major undergrad, as this recent Chronicle piece suggests it is, it might go a ways toward explaining why, among all majors, business majors show the weakest gains in college, score the lowest on the GMAT.In the recently published book Academically Adrift, authors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa make the case that undergraduate students aren’t learning, but snoozing and socializing away their college years.

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