The academic credit hour system was set up many years ago to ensure that there would be some standardization across colleges throughout the country and that academics and employers had the same understanding of the workload that a college student had carried to earn a degree. The credit-hour system was based on the assumption that a student would spend two hours of preparation for each hour of in-class time. So, a student taking 5 classes should spend 15 hours per week in classes and about 30 hours preparing for classes, or a total of about 45 hours a week—which is a full-time schedule.

1. How many hours outside of class, on average, do you and other students you know spend preparing for class each week?

2. Are college professors today assigning students two hours of preparation for every hour in class? If not, why do you think they have dropped this standard?

3. Are students who are essentially doing part-time work (that is, attending classes but doing little academic work outside of class) during college being prepared for a career after graduation (with a 40- to 60-hour workweek)?

4. Is it ethical and socially responsible for professors to drop standards and for colleges to award degrees for doing less work than students did 5, 10, or 20 years ago?