Going From High School Senior to Freshman “Greenie” College Student

    It seems as though I am not the only one who took a stab at the college transition following high school whom did not conquer their freshman year quite as they had hoped. To reiterate the fact that this defeat is not an unusual circumstance as one professor who taught first-year college students for over thirty years said, “Although there are exceptions, the evidence supports teachers' suspicions that students are less prepared and less committed to academic pursuits than they were twenty years ago. However, "Students are not responsible for their culture"; they are victims of it, just as are the high schools from which they graduate.

    Several factors indicate that students are entering college with reduced academic training: (1) graduation requirements often allow students to enter their senior year with few remaining required courses; (2) students are often allowed to replace more rigorous academic courses with electives and personal service courses; and (3) sometimes the academic courses themselves are not standardized or adequate for college preparation. Moreover, several factors combine to make students enter college freshmen courses with a decided lack of commitment: negative experiences with these courses in high school, a similarity of titles in the high school and college courses that leads students to think they already know this material, and the idea that in college one should be able to pursue courses related to one's career goals. Which is exactly what it seems Kelly and I ran into!

Teaching practices, both in high school and college, frequently help create disengaged students. High school teachers often rely too heavily on memorization and require little rigorous academic discipline all the while developing a personal relationship with the students. College freshmen expect that same supportive personal relationship with the college professor. The supportive relationship in high school between the student and the teacher is probably especially strong with the better students; thus, the better students may be especially vulnerable in the shift to the university with larger classes and less personal attention from the professor. In addition, in high school material is usually covered in class, requiring little outside reading, and testing is more frequent and lacking in demands for critical thinking. Consequently, students enter college with little understanding of what is needed, even though they think they will have to study harder when they are in college: they end up trying to do more of what they did in high school. They have not developed the reading (generally being able to learn material from class presentation rather than reading the text) and analytic skills that are demanded of them in the university (http://www.radford.edu/~cte-web/mjtr/freshmen.html).

    These two authors point-or-view are to be seen not as excuses for the behavior that preceded the actions of Kelly and I in the end of our freshman years in college, instead we will pass these warning signs on in our narratives and remixes in hopefulness that these traps will be acknowledged and opened up so to speak.

    Having a bachelor's degree has become a major requirement in today’s society. In order to be competitive in today's job market you will need to further your education beyond a primary education. But who is going to spread that knowledge to the young graduates? Who is going to tell them about the responsibility of earning a college degree? The responsibility of being a young adult in the world of higher education is a challenge where guidance is needed.

"Access without quality is a cruel deception, while quality without access is betrayal of the cherished American ideal of equal education opportunity and the belief that it is important to educate all children."

    As our environment changes we must remember to change with it! Incoming college freshman must learn from the ones who went before them allowing their hopes of freedom to flourish. There are numerous responsibilities that are involved in going to college, that far exceed picking a major, learning to budget time and money are just a few examples. No matter which path you decide to take in achieving your degree know that going to school comes with many responsibilities. Remember just believe in yourself!