"My kid has been accepted into college! I'm so happy!"
. . .and you should be. Your child has begun a journey that is in many ways a reward, yet it is also one that can prove to be exciting, challenging, lonely, and, certainly, financially burdensome. My task today is to offer insight into what I see as a freshman English teacher at the university level to perhaps assist current high school students and parents as they head down this road.
After several dormant months of recharging the writing side of my brain, I am ready to "hit the ground running." When writing, of course, the writer must be knowledgeable, credible, and trustworthy. I never know if my reading audience could check all three of those boxes about me, but I am confident enough to throw my thoughts out there and, at the least, stir a few reactions, positive or negative. As I begin my seventh year of teaching college English, I have made many observations that have correlated with my thirty-five years of teaching high school English. To make my points most effectively, I have bulleted each section:
*Hoping I am not dampening too many spirits here, but I must begin with a downer: Getting accepted at a college/university is really not that difficult (with the exception of the so-called "prestigious" ones). Universities are in a competing numbers game; so many are trying to sell their programs while hoping to attract students. To keep the doors open and to maintain quality doctorate-prepared professors require student numbers. If those numbers fall short of expectations, consequences result such as elimination of programs (note: The University of Akron), release of professors, and decreased building of updated structures. In short, that is simple math: Keep the numbers up and the university thrives. If numbers drop, heads roll. To prevent the negativity, higher education schools are often willing to accept those students who academically may not be academically prepared (thus the high number of remedial classes offered to incoming freshmen because of numerous academic deficiencies). No, getting accepted to a university is not a major hurdle.
*The problem stemming from my previous point is this: Retention of students beyond the first year. Rearing its ugly head, students' lack of preparation places so many schools in a financial and academic quagmire. As stated, kids can get in to a university, but can they stay? As parents, we like to believe that we are talking about the "other" kids, certainly not ours. Unfortunately, often those "other" kids are our own. So many find that when they begin college, the maturity, the studying habits, the preparation, and the desire are lacking. As that slippery slope unravels, students frequently find at year's end that they have pretty much wasted a whole lot of time and money. Obviously, a disclaimer has to be inserted at this point: I am not referring to all students, by any means. However, I am referring to a common problem universities are facing: How do they get kids to recognize the seriousness of that freshmen year? National averages--including all universities--seem to indicate that approximately 75% of the first-year students come back for round two. On one hand, that number sounds about right. It is a "C" average in the academic classroom, so if 3 out of 4 kids make it back, that is impressive . . .unless you are the parent paying for the 1 who did not make it and now face paying an imposing loan of approximately $25,000 for one year with nothing to show for it except the debt!
*Given my two previous points, allow me to delve into what I frequently see in my freshman English writing classes, which I strongly suspect is not limited to only my classes. I am quite fortunate to have taught several motivated students who are outstanding writers before they ever enter my classroom. My contribution to their learning is usually finetuning their final products. They are mature, serious students who clearly are well read, well taught, and well nurtured in how to present their thoughts.
A second group is those who are not nearly as motivated or as prepared. Unfortunately, many of them have a lower threshold work ethic that limits their wanting to improve. I can deal with those kids quite easily because most of them are our typical kids who lack motivation for reading and writing. Indeed, their motivation may be sports, the hot girl/guy seated in front of them, or just the desire to get a grade and get out of there--nothing unusual about that. The problem, though, is that quite often these kids' preparation is lacking. So many had enrolled in non-college preparatory English classes (as they have told me, "because I didn't want to take anything hard in high school"). Believe it or not, I encounter many students who have never written a research paper, have done limited reading, and have written so few papers that it is obvious that their high school background as well as their choices have not prepared them for the challenges they encounter. As the dated Midas Muffler marketing jingle expressed, "Pay me now or pay me later!" Later has a price tag.
A third group consists of those kids who are there merely to play sports; yes, a large number envision themselves playing pro ball even though statistically the odds are stacked against that probability. In simple terms, these athletes are not overly concerned about being students. Many of them have been coddled in high school; I must admit I have been overly shocked by that. As an example, one student told me he had gotten "B's" in English throughout his high school years. I could quickly see that was a farce. When I asked him privately how that had happened, his response was that "I played football--they took care of me!" While I would like to think that is the exception, in this case, I think it was true. Of course, I am not implying that all athletes are ineffective students; no, I am saying that many enroll in school with sports being their only focus--that is a serious problem with serious financial implications!
Summarizing these three paragraphs is simple: If a kid is prepared academically, his college experience will likely be quite positive; if the kid is not prepared, the experience could be quite negative.
*Advice to Students:
*Read, Think, and Write. To repeat: Read, Think, and Write.
*Take challenging English classes in high school; if in a noncollege track but planning to attend higher education, switch to the college-prep track, one where a challenge is presented but is not overwhelming or self defeating.
*Read the newspaper.
*Read columnists' writing to stimulate thinking enough to formulate your own argument (so many kids have limited knowledge of state/national/world affairs . . . as a result, many have little if any opinions!).
*Read something enjoyable to you so that it does not feel like you have to do it (I began my love of reading via Sports Illustrated!).
*Recognize that you are preparing for what lies ahead--learn the grammatical basics and how to apply those basics to effective writing.
*Know topics well enough to be able to accept or challenge others' opinions--never forget that the sign of an intelligent person is one who views all sides of an issue before voicing an opinion.
Advice to Parents:
*Ditto to most of the above but add this: Monitor your students' English classes to ensure they are reading and writing on an ongoing basis. I am not suggesting being a helicopter or snowplow parent, but if you truly want your kids to succeed in their college experience, you need to know what preparation is being done AND that your offsprings are not simply "blowin' off" tasks they do not want to do.
Bottom line, my friends, from my perspective, a large percentage of college freshmen are ill-prepared for the challenge they face in introductory mandatory English classes. I pinpoint the reason to lack of preparation in meeting an academic challenge requiring reading, thinking, and writing. Yes, in most all cases, this can be prevented, but it requires a concerted, focused high school effort.
Think I'm exaggerating? If so, I'm just hoping your kid is not one of those who doesn't return for year 2 because of poor academic performance.
Just asking for a friend, who's paying back that $25,000?
