Teen Transition

The transition from high school to college is amazing. How do kids do it? Those of us who teach college freshman don't think about this challenge enough. In Tim Clydesdale's observations in The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens After High School, several points stand out:

1. Seniors and college freshman are so focused on "daily life management" that they are not, for now, interested in larger social, cultural, political issues. Teachers might need to "let go of" the expectation of these students having "worldly curiosity" (p. 201). Instead sophomores and juniors in both high school and college, might be more apt to consider their community or global context.

2. Teachers of college freshman underestimate what students can learn and should raise standard/upgrade expectations. Students expect college to be hard.

3. Teachers should begin with what students want to learn (engage interest, connect it to bodies of knowledge, and apply knowledge, p. 203). For example, Clydesdale teaches sociology, and he decided to teach research on relationships because that is a big part of their "daily life management" and he covers the introduction of the field later in the semester.

4. Teachers "overestimate" what students can "meaningful integrate on their own" (p. 40). This one needs further explanation.

What are your observations?