We are often told in high school that everything they teach us is a skill we should remember to prepare us for college. Teachers hand out work to us and say things like “that’s what it’s like in college,” and expect us to understand. The truth is, high school and college are very different, and high school does not prepare us as well as they say it does.
While high school does a fairly good job of teaching us material that will serve as a basic foundation for college, it doesn’t prepare us skill-wise for the independence and problem-solving required in higher education.
Although it’s important to learn these basic courses such as English and math to have heads up for college, high school doesn’t prepare us fully. The work style in college is very different.
Teaching teens can be difficult because, on one hand, you need to enforce strict rules and a lot of guidance to grow basic standards, but this also results in confusion and fear when transitioning to institute, which is a lot more lenient on both of these.
There is a lack of independence and free agency while you’re young and when you get this new power as you grow older some kids go rogue. This is why the first year of college is commonly the party year and this isn’t a mature way to handle or be successful in college.
It is like suddenly being put on a bike without training wheels. You can’t be expected to ride perfectly after being supported so much in high school. You must find balance and steer yourself once you’re on your own.
Additionally, the homework situation in high school relies solely on memorization and practicing surface-level understanding, rather than demanding deeper learning and critical thinking. When students enter a university, this can be detrimental when they realize they need to actually dig and think.
This is especially important as high school homework is most commonly excused as being college-preparation. But this simply isn’t the case.
High school requires multiple hours of in-person instruction every day, plus homework, leaving hardly any time for mental resets or extracurricular’s. This gets overwhelming and heavy fast, leading to burnout. Not to mention, it restricts students from building the strong time management skills they’ll need in college.
College is very work heavy but the majority of it is independent which means you need good study, time management, and researching skills. All of which we aren’t able to apply in high school because of its restricting schedule and homework.
Although some moral guidance and core subjects are offered in high school, students may find themselves overwhelmed or even lost, realizing that the study and time management habits they honed in high school don’t translate adequately to the requirements of college life.
