Ages and stages: is that the same child I taught last year? The college student - Pedagogy Saturday VI

American Music Teacher, Oct-Nov, 2002

Judith Piercy, speaker

When thinking about teaching, a fundamental question is, "Who are these students anyway?" As a college administrator, each year the students entering my university are the same age (18-22), while I am a year older. Can I still relate to them? Perhaps it's prudent for me to take a moment and ask, "Who are the college students of 2002?"

Today's students are at the end of the Generation X era and at the beginning of the Millennial Era, according to authors Neil Howe and William Strauss (2000). Millennials are students born since 1982 and are characterized as being sheltered (product of child safety rules and security in schools), confident (high levels of trust and optimism), team-oriented (strong team instincts), achieving (higher school standards), conventional (believe that social rules can help) and pressured to excel. In general, students are born into smaller families with more parental education.

Another distinguishing feature of Millennials is that they come to college from a lifestyle that was highly scheduled. After-school sports, music lessons, dance, drama and so forth, keep high school students very busy with little unstructured time. In fact, their unstructured free time is significantly less than other generations. Once in college, these students are not used to determining their own schedule and often struggle with time management when coming to college. This may be why college freshmen waste so much time!

Millennials like math and science most, social studies and art least. They would rather do active things with others (like video games) then imaginative play on their own.

Studying the characteristics of Millennials helps educators understand how today's college generation may be different from previous ones. But how are they the same?

Human development has been actively researched during the past century, resulting in theories about predictable phases or stages of growth. Two particular theories address the development of college students, one being cognitive development and the other psycho-social development.

William Perry's "Cognitive Development Theory" (Perry 1984, 76-116) outlines the forms or structures that shape how people view their experience. These are described by "positions" that fall along a continuum of development where growth occurs in the transition from one position to another. Development is due to two opposing forces--the urge to progress versus the urge to conserve. Nine positions are found within the following four categories: Dualism, Multiplicity, Relativism and Commitment.

Dualistic thinkers (positions 1 and 2) view the world dichotomously with events being right or wrong, good or bad. They believe right answers exist for everything. Dualistic students view you, the instructor, as the absolute authority possessing the correct information by virtue of your position. While dualistic thinkers may be obedient, they are not developing independence of thought.

Positions 3 and 4 comprise Multiplicity, where knowledge expands from right and wrong to include the not yet known. Students in these positions begin to improve their analytical thinking skills and accept the concept that all views have some validity. The joy of teaching these students is found in their desire to be taught how to find the right answers. They move from learning how to learn to how to think.

Position 4 is the most critical of all positions because the transition from position 4 to 5 involves a "cognitive flip," where students begin to see themselves as legitimate authorities who can adapt ideas from other authority figures after reflection and critical examination. Position 5 is called Relativism. Teachers can stimulate student learning by asking students their interpretation of a musical piece, or their analysis of how to correct a problem.

The final set of positions (6 through 9) embraces Commitment and do not involve further cognitive development, rather ethical development. Here, one affirms what is one's own through self-affirmation, consideration of legitimate alternatives and the experience of doubt.

Cognitive development is not the only evolution occurring in college-aged students. Their psycho-social development is also making great strides. Arthur Chickering's theory of psycho-social development (1978) involves seven developmental vectors--achieving competence, managing emotions, becoming autonomous, establishing identity, developing freeing interpersonal relationships, clarifying purposes and developing integrity.

Each vector involves critical growth issues for students, but for the purpose of this summary, competence and autonomy will be highlighted.

Competence includes intellectual, physical and interpersonal areas of students' lives. So while your student may be striving for competence in an area of music, he or she is also attempting to be competent in other areas.

The vector of developing autonomy is a struggle seen so often by educators. First, there is emotional independence, where a young adult tries to be free of the need for Continual approval. Secondly, there is instrumental autonomy, which involves learning how to "take care of business." For many students, prior to college, their parents often orchestrated their lives and handled their affairs. Now students must learn to schedule their time, complete assignments, find practice time and pay bills. How often they wrestle with these! It's imperative for teachers to hold students accountable for their assignments and commitments because you are helping them learn this valuable life skill.