Most Freshmen Are Not Emotionally Prepared for College
High school students spend years taking classes that will help them tackle the rigors of college courses.
But according to a new national survey, most freshmen were unprepared for campus life in one important way: emotionally.
The First Year College Experience survey, conducted by Harris Poll for The JED Foundation, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, and The Jordan Porco Foundation, found that 60 percent of freshmen said they wished they had "more help getting emotionally ready for college."
Emotional preparedness was a major factor in determining whether a student had a successful freshman year or not. The survey of over 1,500 first-year college students showed that those who felt less emotionally prepared for college when compared to their peers had lower GPAs and were four times more likely (22 percent versus 5 percent) to describe their first year experience as "terrible/poor."
Half of the students said they felt stressed "most or all of the time" and more than a third felt anxious or did not feel as if they were "in control of managing the stress of day-to-day college life."
MORE MISERY
You know, I know I've been a wet noodle and/or blanket lately, but this story cheers me up. Maybe this information will become more mainstream. Maybe one day they'll ask us what to do.
ReplyDeleteNICE use of and/or, you sneaky bugger!
DeleteIndeed! I find myself occasionally prone to such fits of optimism, too, lately. Maybe Ben sneaked something into the watercooler before he departed?
DeleteI have a 2 step solution:
ReplyDelete1. Boost their self-esteem
2. Treat them like customers
Nothing can possibly go wrong.
You know where people who talk like that go when their soul leaves their body, don't you?
DeleteTo the admin building.
Ah, that would explain all the flesh-eating zombies!
DeleteI think you guys have summed up both my dean and that baconfuckingjalapenomacandcheese asshole.
DeleteI spent the first half of the day at a "transfer conference" at the nearby nationally-recognized engineering school to which we send a few juniors each year (grumble: they hold it during our fall break, which is great for not having to miss classes and sucks on the actually getting a break front). The primary purpose of this thing is to disseminate info that advisors need to tell students who want to transfer and to get our feedback, as this school goes out of their way to make the transfer process transparent and navigable. All of which means they cream off many of our very best students, much to the students benefit (but to our rather mixed emotions).
ReplyDeleteOne of the things they do is trot out some "student ambassadors" for a Q&A. Several people asked them about those kinds of life-skills and getting oriented. I was heartened by the answers. Phrases like "when you realize there is no one to get you out of bed"; "go and find the help you need, and fast"; and "make some friends because they can help you through the rough patches". There are still some students who react to college like we did and start living up to adult expectations reasonably early in the process.
I was also amused by the transfer student who said she found this small and insular school in a rural town "more fun" than the big one in Houston she transferred from because "you can make really nerdy jokes and people get them".
Jeez Louise. So, parents should "Give 11th and 12th graders greater independence and teach them more life skills...such as managing sleep, nutrition, money, time and relationships, living with more diverse communities or simply living with non-family members"? Fine, I'm all for it! But what are the chances today's overprotective, overscheduled, helicopter-a-go-go parents will carry through with what a generation ago was considered something any idiot could do? I won't hold my breath waiting.
ReplyDeleteI don't always feel emotionally prepared to teach (some of) today's students, so I guess we're even.
ReplyDeleteWell, if it's any consolation, many of them are not emotionally prepared for grad school, either.
ReplyDeleteBy which I mean, after they've navigated grades 13-16, as newbie gradflakes they're still a mess.
DeleteFrom the article: "those who felt less emotionally prepared for college when compared to their peers had..."
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that they felt less prepared than their peers during the act of being compared to them, but similarly prepared otherwise?
Does nobody know what the fuck a comparative adjective is anymore?