Beane - Scenario 1

Tutee:  “I have always made “A’s” in high school, so I know I should be making “A’s” in college too.”

When I began college I went through the same dilemma - why aren't my high school study skills working in college? I would want to explain to my tutee how others can feel and I would want to analyze with them the possibilities for their grades.  For many college students they must either learn how to study or learn how to portray what they know by the standards that their professor asks for.  As a high school teacher I realize that we are preparing students for college while they are in high school, but because of all of the outside factors there is no true way to prepare anyone for the independence and responsibility that comes with college.  For some students high school was a breeze because you didn't have homework, or the teachers made everything super relevant.  Unfortunately college isn't always like that.  Colleges do not always function with the individual student in mind.  Many professors teach using a lecture style classroom or an online classroom -- if a student has never seen a lecture style or online classroom and has always been in English classes where information in presented to intrigue all learning styles, they will have to teach themselves how to learn from a lecture, or at least how to comprehend the text that comes along with the lecture.  Sometimes college is also a large step toward independence that a recent graduate isn't ready for.  When you have to get yourself to class on times (there are no bells), you must pay attention on your own (no one will call your parents or give you warnings), or you must keep up with your own grades (teachers will not give you multiple chances) those are hard bridges to cross for a lot of students.

College isn't like high school in many ways. Oftentimes successful students in high school find the transition to college to be the most difficult thing that they have ever had to experience.  Also college classes are much less cross-curricular and you may have classes that do not touch on anything that you are interested in and if you have never experienced a class like that you can also have a lot of trouble.

Reviewing all of the differences between college and high school and helping the tutee to understand why there are those differences is key to them overcoming that disappointment and boosting their performance.