Social Class and Education

Below is the link to the New York Times lengthy article on socio-economic class, higher education and the new class of college-dropouts that seems to be increasing.

The report seems to offer few suggestions for improvement, beyond the efforts being undertaken by a few colleges, such as the University of Virginia. In fact the report specifically says:

Why so many low-income students fall from the college ranks is a question without a simple answer. Many high schools do a poor job of preparing teenagers for college. Many of the colleges where lower-income students tend to enroll have limited resources and offer a narrow range of majors, leaving some students disenchanted and unwilling to continue.

Then there is the cost. Tuition bills scare some students from even applying and leave others with years of debt. To Mr. Blevins, like many other students of limited means, every week of going to classes seemed like another week of losing money - money that might have been made at a job.

Schools cost money, to be sure, an for most low income students finances are a significant hurdle, but with the availability of need-based and merit-based scholarship funds, not to mention no collateral needed student loans, funding is not the issue. Nor do I think motivation is necessarily an issue. The article talks about a brother and sister, one of whom is a college dropout and the other with a Ph.D. A motivated student will overcome most obstacles.

No, I think the issue is related more to the sentence buried in the first paragraph quoted above, "Many high schools do a poor job of preparing teenagers for college. " Now the obvious statement would be that high schools do a poor job of preparing kids academically, and that is true to a certain extent. But the lack of preparation extends much deeper than that, the lack of prepartion comes in the form of students being ill-prepared for the differing nature of college life.

First, the differing demands of a college versus a high school are drastically different. In high school, students meet in the class every day. They see their teachers every day and there is an expectation of performance. The course material is spread out over an academic year and to be honest, bright students need to do little preparation for class. On the other hand, college course meet two or three times a week or at best four times a week in some cases. The course material that would be taught in a full academic year in high school is compressed into a 16-17 week semester and failure to prepare for class puts you even further behind.

Then there are the expectations of the instructors. In high school, you are required to attend, failure to do so carries consequences and penalities. The teachers and administration take pains to inform parents about the absences or delinquencies of students. In short, someone always cares. In college they don't care whether you attend class or not--its your money. In order for professors and teaching assistants to care about you, you have to make an effort, reach out to them. In summary, in high school the discipline to attend school comes from outside the student, the discipline is imposed. In college, the student must be self-disciplined, must act on their own.

To correct these issues, high schools need to do a better job of treating their students like responsible young adults. Don't do your homework--fine, the school should not be in the business of coddling students. Teh consequences of failure to do homework is poor grades which would have to be explained to parents and possible failure to graduate. If this seems harsh, so be it. I am not saying freshmen need be treated like this, but the treatment could be phased in.

College Freshmen, generally, are able to handle the academic weight of college courses, if not the intensity. After all, it is not as if college freshmen are being asked to tackle differential equations when their high school has only taught them pre-calculus. The steps up in academic course material are natural, it is the presentation that is different and the presentation can be overcome. High schools could do better by asking their juniors and seniors (and their parents) to act like young adults, treat them as young adults, and expect these young adults to accept the consequences of their actions, or inactions, like adults. Otherwise, college freshmen will continue to struggle and drop out, regardless of their economic class.



Class Matters - Social Class and Education in the United States of America - The New York Times - New York Times