Catching Lightening in a Bottle
By Dave Goldberg, School Guidance Counselor
The big TCC college fair was conducted Tuesday evening and the St. Gregory College Fair was earlier in the day. Over 150 colleges and universities from all over the place dropped by Tucson to glean students and pique their interests in programs, services, majors, sports, the arts and student life.
What your children don't quite grasp is that they could spend every waking hour of their lives on a campus such as The University of Arizona, never venture off the 180 acres, and they would have a great time every day of the remainder of their 70 years on earth. That is how enriching the university experience is. Nothing else is like it, not even Disneyland.
With minor edits to an article lifted from about.com College Life, I present for your enjoyment:College vs. High School -- 50 Differences Between College and High School, From Where You Live to WhatYouLearn, Nearly Everything Has Changed, by Kecli Lynn Lucier.
1. No one takes attendance.
2. Your instructors are now called "professors" instead of "teachers."
3. You don't have a curfew.
4. You have a roommate who you didn't know until right before you moved in together.
5. It's totally acceptable if your professor is late to class.
6. You can stay out all night without anyone caring.
7. You don't have to go to assemblies.
8. You don't need a permission form to watch a movie in class.
9. You don't need a permission form to go somewhere with your school/classmates.
10. You can pick what time your classes start.
11. You can nap in the middle of the day.
12. You can work on campus.
13. Your papers are much longer.
14. You get to do real science experiments.
15. Your goals in your classes are to learn things and pass, not pass an AP test for credit later.
16. Group work, while still lame sometimes, is much more involved.
17. There's no busy work.
18. There are museums and exhibits on campus.
19. Campus-sponsored events happen much later at night.
20. You can ***** at school-sponsored events.
21. Nearly every event has some kind of food.
22. You can borrow books and other research material from lots of schools.
23. Your student ID gets you a discount -- and now a little respect, too.
24. You'll never be able to get all your homework done.
25. You can't turn in fluff and expect to get credit for it.
26. You don't get an A just for doing the work. You now have to do it well.
27. You can fail or pass a class depending on how you do on one exam/assignment/etc.
28. You're in the same classes as the people you live with.
29. You're responsible for making sure you still have enough money in your account at the end of the semester.
30. You can study abroad with much less effort than you could in high school.
31. People expect a much different answer to the "So what are you going to do after you graduate?" question.
32. You can go to grad. school when you're done.
33. You have to buy your own books -- and lots of them.
34. You have more freedom to choose the topics on things like research papers.
35. A lot more people come back for Homecoming/Alumni Weekend.
36. You have to go to something called "language lab" as part of your foreign language class.
37. You're no longer the smartest person in the classroom.
38. Plagiarism is taken much more seriously.
39. You'll learn how to write a 10-page paper on a 10-line poem.
40. You're expected to give money back to your school after you graduate.
41. For the rest of your life, you'll always be a little interested to see where your school ranks in the annual rankings done by newsmagazines.
42. The library stays open 24 hours.
43. You can nearly always find someone on campus who knows more than you about a subject you're struggling with -- and who is willing to help you learn.
44. You can do research with your professors.
45. You can have class outside.
46. You can have class at your professors' houses.
47. Your professor might have you and your classmates over for dinner at the end of the semester.
48. You're expected to keep up on current events -- and connect them to what you're discussing in class.
49. You really do need to do the reading.
50. You'll attend classes with other students who want, instead of have, to be there.
I don't necessarily concur with all of these but they're close. Number 6 for example isn't quite right. Get locked out of your dorm and you'll care. Further, parents care. My main contrast point is that here at IRHS students spend 5-7 hours in class per day totaling about 30 hours per week with face time. On the other hand, the college experience is about 16 hours of face time per week with faculty. So the college experience requires students to self-motivate. That difference is huge.
While not all of the points above relate to IRHS students' preparation, I would say that our students are better prepared for college than the vast majority of high school students nationwide. Our faculty have high expectations and this place is not so different from a college. Of course, we serve all but the rigor here is great and the expectations are high across the board.
There are other more fundamental differences and college changes students in many ways. Your children have to be ready for the adventure and knowledgeable about persistence rates and just exactly which factors lead to dropping out. Frankly, the college-going experience is difficult to master but with adequate preparation no one can say they were not forewarned.
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