While a recent Ohio Board of Regents report determined incoming college students lack academic preperation, BU professors and students blamed unpreparedness on the contrast between high school and college life.
The study, reported in the Ohio State University’s The Lantern, said freshman problems are due to lower academic standards throughout high school. High schools carrying a college preparatory curriculum were found to produce more students who were meeting expectations in college.
Martha Tompson, a BU psychology professor, said she thought more problems were due to adjusting to the new responsibilities of living independently.
“I am not going to say that students are not prepared, but in my opinion the first semester is a huge period of transition,” Tompson said. “One major task students undertake is to become socialized in their new environment.”
Tompson said there were differences between students, and each individual would have to figure out what he or she needed to do to become prepared.
“They have to learn to regulate themselves, to study in a meaningful way and mainly to structure their own life,” she said. “There is a tremendous range among the students in their preparation, some are totally prepared and some are not at all.”
Professor Ellen Davis, who teaches freshmen in Introduction to Communication Writing, said she does not base her material on how prepared she expects students to be.
“I do not assume anything going into the semester as to their level of preparation,” Davis said. “I would like to see more rigorous preparation in grammar, but we do a lot of active working in grammar throughout the course in order to accomplish that.”
Davis also said students did not need to perfect grammar and writing skills in high school because they still have time to work on them in college.
“An ideal for myself is to see better writers and better grammarians,” Davis said. “I think that once they get to college, they can master the skills they need.”
Patrick Caughey, a College of Communication freshman, said he was surprised that some of his first semester classes focused on learning grammar.
“I was expecting everyone to have a better understanding of grammar,” Caughey said. “I was surprised that in every English class, BU tests us several times on our grammar.”
Several freshmen said while they felt unprepared in some respects, they thought they were ready to deal with the stresses and expectations of college.
Julia Kuder, a School of Education freshman, said she didn’t feel unprepared for college at the beginning of the school year, though she has had to work harder in college than high school.
“I think I came into college not thinking it was too hard, but definitely learned my lessons at the end of first semester,” Kuder said. “During high school I didn’t have the right mindset and I think I have had to put a lot more effort into my work here.”
Caughey, too, said he did not feel he was prepared for certain aspects of his freshman year.
“There are two things that high school doesn’t prepare you for — the volume of reading assigned in college and the increased independence you are given,” he said.
Robin Morehead, a College of General Studies freshman, said her major college problem has been time management.
“I think I’ve been prepared in that none of the work is too difficult for me, but I have faced more difficulty in managing my time,” Morehead said.
However, some freshman like College of Fine Arts student Eric Larson said the challenge of college courses was a welcome one.
“As far as CAS classes go, I feel pretty prepared,” Larson said. “Classes are not overly challenging, but they’re obviously harder than what I had in high school. I didn’t expect otherwise coming to BU.”
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