What really matters in college: how students view & value liberal education

Students are receiving these messages from their parents, but also from high school teachers and guidance counselors, and from the society at large. What they are not receiving is specific information about the challenges they will face in college or the specific outcomes of college that employers identify as essential. At least some students are getting lots of information about requirements for gaining admittance to college and guidance on how and when to apply, but they are not told what or how they will be expected to study once they get to college--or how they can best prepare to succeed there. The message about preparation seems to be simply "work hard, since college learning is difficult"--not a very helpful message to guide one's actual choices and actions.

The students we interviewed who felt the most prepared for college were those who had taken Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate classes. The high school students who had taken these classes believed that these more demanding curricula and heavier course loads reflected the academic rigor of college. The college students' evaluations of AP classes varied, however. Some felt that general education courses in college simply rehashed what they had already learned in high school, while others felt they were unprepared for the demands of some college classes despite having taken AP classes in those fields of study.

Given the messages these students are receiving, it is not surprising that we found high school students largely uninformed about the college curriculum and quite uncertain about its demands. The resources available to guide their preparation for college life are clearly very limited. Students do not regard high school guidance counselors or colleges themselves as trusted sources of information. Operating in this vacuum and in a general climate of skepticism about the advice they are receiving, students have little understanding of the kinds of learning either their future employers or faculty members believe are most important, and they don't even know that this gap in their knowledge is important.

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Important outcomes

While some regard the college degree as little more than a "piece of paper," most students believe that something important goes on during the college years. The problem is they don't have a clear sense of what that "something" is or ought to be. They are in no position to be intentional about working on precisely those outcomes most important to their future success and to the future success of our society.

How, then, do students view the specific learning objectives they will be pursuing in college?

It was extremely difficult for the students in our focus groups to name specific outcomes of college that are important to them. In generating their own lists of important outcomes, they tended to describe very general aptitudes and dispositions. They placed the greatest priority on gaining a sense of maturity, time-management skills, strong work habits, self-discipline, and teamwork skills. With the exception of teamwork skills, however, the students did not recognize these skills as being direct outcomes of the college curriculum as much as they viewed them as products of their own ability to handle the greater independence, freedom, and responsibility gained at college.