The Influence of Active Learning on the College Student Departure Process - Article Example

Tinto’s theory has been appreciated by many scholars and researchers; scholars such as Braxton, Sullivan, and Johnson (1997) opined that this theory enjoys near paradigmatic stature in the study of student departure. There are economic, psychological organizational, and societal factors that lead to the student departure at the college level. Tinto claims that individual characteristics such as the family background of students, pre-college schooling experiences, and individual traits also influence the deficit of students in college. According to Tinto, the foundation theory active learning on social integration of 1975 is playing a major role in the college student departure. He purports that active learning increases the student’s knowledge and helps them to understand course content. Researchers such as Pascarella and Terenzini (1980) evaluate that the major dimension of Tinto's 1975 model theory was a student-faculty relationship. According to them the lack of interaction between faculty and the student was one of the major reasons for student departure. Similarly, Tinto also held that cooperative learning also helps the students to work together and maximize the goal in their group.

McLendon, Hearn, and Deaton (2006) in their article, “pricing the Flagship”, analyze the incident of tuition setting at public research universities through a political-science scenario. It is a comparative study of the tuition fee in the period of 1950s and 2006. According to Garrette and Poole, in the period of 1950s, many of the students got tuition-free public education but the rates of tuition setting at public universities have been increased significantly in the 1980s. McLendon, Hearn, and Deaton emphasize that today U.S education is facing the most prominent and controversial issue in Higher education-that of Tuition rises in the public research universities. There are many who raised their voices persons against the unusual increment of the tuition fees in college including the U.S secretary of Education Margret Spelling. State appropriation like Socio-Demographic, economic, and industry-specific forces are the common phenomenon behind tuition settings in public research universities. These factors mainly consist of population, and postsecondary-economic patterns, aid policies and university governance arrangements, proximal economic condition, and state appropriation. According to longitudinal analysis, it points out that Political factors influence the main reason for shaping tuition settings in public universities. McLendon, Hearn, and Deaton (2006) find out the connection between political factors and higher education financing. They point out that “each political party’s legislative strength was associated with states initiating distinctive performance accountability programs” (McLendon, Hearn, and Deaton 2006) The article also points out that minority representation in state legislatures is the main cause of university pricing.