Transition to College Writing

One thing that really caught my attention in our chapter one reading in Hjortshoj the other day was the passage about the two students, Eduardo and Marie. As I read this passage, I found myself seeing similarities with the student Marie, whose strategy for success in school was centered towards working harder and longer in order to succeed. Eduardo, on the other hand took a different approach, which was more centered toward working “differently, or even less.” Although I think my study habits now may be similar to both Eduardo and Marie, I found myself, in high school, feeling frustrated at the amount of memorization and work ethic I felt that I needed to put forth in order to succeed academically. However looking back now, I attribute my way of thinking mainly to the way I was taught how to learn. I do not feel as though my teachers in high school really made me think about the main concepts of the classes I attended. Instead, I found myself being taught specific details that I needed to memorize in order to do well on tests. I think that this way of thinking slightly hampered my ability to think outside the box, and therefore limited my ability to grasp the interconnectedness that exists between all subjects of education. It was not until I came to college that I learned how to think about broader concepts, which then allowed me to more easily remember specific details.

Although I eventually learned how to adjust to the different learning patterns and ways of thinking my freshman year at Richmond, I agree with Hjortshoj, in that I was not prepared for the change that I experienced. However, I disagree with him that high school teachers cannot prepare high schoolers for the kind of thinking and learning that exists in colleges. Although he lists many reasons as to why high school and college are so different, I think that a bridge could be made between the two, if high school teachers were willing to put forth the effort to get their students to think differently. I think it is the job of the high school teacher to prepare students better for the kind of thinking that is required in college, considering most high school teachers attended college and probably have experiences with their transition. I think that motivation and participation would be higher amongst high school students if we got them thinking more like college students, who learn and think in the broader sense. This way of learning would increase self-motivation and interest in the subjects. I hope that this weekend when mentoring, we will be able to inspire these kids to think differently by applying the bigger picture to their writing, so that they can further develop their ideas. If we can get these students to see their writing as a prideful reflection of themselves instead of just “another assignment they have to complete,” I think that we will have done our job.