What is College Ready

This week’s article summary is from Education Reformers Don't Know What College Ready Means, written by a college professor of English.

While the attitudes and habits needed for success in his class are not that surprising, the article is a reminder that we—parents, teachers, other adults—can get caught up believing student preparation is solely about “content knowledge".

Of course, there is essential knowledge (skills, concepts, procedures) for every discipline. Yet just as important is shaping our students’ attitude toward school, learning, and life. 

My sister and I had very different educational experiences (I won’t go into the reasons why here). She went to a traditional public high school with about 4000 classmates while I went to a progressive private high school with 80 kids in my senior class. She did mostly rote work—worksheets, teacher-set assignments, multiple-choice tests, etc.—and I got to learn the habits listed below. My tests were only essay, and almost all classes were discussion-based. We both attended small liberal arts colleges. College for me was a breeze because I had developed the habits listed below. My private school experience was the most influential period of my life and the primary reason I became an educator (my first job and third teaching job was in the school I graduated from). My sister sadly has scant positive memories of high school and struggled initially in college because she didn’t have the habits below.

Joe

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These are the traits that are most important to success in college and life:

Curiosity: If I have a curious student, I have a student who will learn things simply because they want to know more about the things they are learning. Writing is the pursuit of answers to questions we ask ourselves, and the curious student is well-skilled at asking questions of the world.

Self-regulation: The freedom of college challenges many students who are used to the structures of high school, and the ones that can manage their own schedules, that can avoid the traps of procrastination and social-life temptations, are simply better prepared to do the work when the work comes.

Passion: It doesn’t much matter what the passion is, and it need not be academic. The only passion that doesn’t really help them in my class is a passion for getting good grades.

Empathy: Every one of my assignments is written to a specific rhetorical situation with a special audience with unique needs, attitudes, and knowledge. The ability to put oneself in someone else’s shoes makes doing this significantly easier.

A healthy skepticism of authority: I ask students to join in an academic conversation that is almost certainly being conducted by people with superior credentials, who hold positions of cultural authority. If students aren’t willing to stick their noses into the discussion, they’ll never have anything original to contribute.