Differences

Between High
T h e M o r e     Yo u
Know School and College
In high school, your teachers are primarily in charge of your learning; in college, you are in charge and expected to participate
fully in your learning at all times. You are the captain of your ship and the master of your destiny.

High school, at its best, can only prepare you for admission to college (or trade schools). It prepares you to pass admissions
exams or exams that support admission into higher education: end of year exams, SAT, PSAT, ACT, etc.

College courses are NOT continuations of high school courses. The instruction and evaluation at the college level are vastly
different. While the basics of a subject may not change, critical thinking and application depth are rigorous at the college level.
High school courses may require mostly memorization; college courses require evaluation, synthesis, and creation. College
professors do not communicate with high school teachers to learn about what was taught and where you are in your learning
path.

In high school you sharpen strategies to succeed at passing a particular teacher's approach to a subject, specific test, or
management of time; in college you need different strategies to succeed in different subjects. The strategies are not
professor-specific. They are discipline specific and require intentional adaptations--notice the "s" on the word adapation. What
you did in high school may very well set you up for failure. You cannot read everything assigned due to time constraints; you
cannot write a paper in one night; you cannot study "hard" and pass. Learning has to be intentional and strategic.

High school teachers are generalist; college professors are specialist. The person teaching your Composition course, for
example, is not a teacher of English. She or he is a Compositionist, Rhetorician, Linguist, Social-linguist, Poet, Novelist, etc.
The person teaching your biology class is a Microbiologist, Biochemist, Neurologist, Geneticist, Developmental Biologist, etc.
The specialized titles mean they have conducted research in their specialized disciplines. 

High school teachers have strict lessons plans and regulations to follow; college professors design classes using "academic
freedom" allowing them to teach what and how they believe is best for students moving into other courses or the workplace.
Overall, they focus on "why," which is a critical step in evaluation, synthetization, and creation within your chosen discipline. 

High school teachers keep a check on you and your progress; college professors expect you to be self-motivated, self-
disciplined, and self-managed. You are treated as young adults, not teenagers. College professors see courses as a job you
have taken voluntarily and expect you to meet the expectations of the course, as you would meet the expectations of an
employer.

High school teachers coach regularly on actionable-offenses, such as lack of citing sources, before acting on them;  college
professors take action on such offenses. In higher education and the workplace, using another person's ideas, words, visuals,
etc. are misdemeanor and felony crimes. 

Reading in high school is often completed in class; college professors assign readings that must be completed prior to class.
Class time is reserved for critical thinking, evaluation, synthesis, and creation. Failure to do the readings before class puts you
in deficit when you are sitting in class. Most students state that not reading before class makes them feel like they are in a
foreign language class. College professors use specialized language to communicate about their specialized disciplines.

Comments and feedback in high school is scaffolded and repeated if you do not apply their feedback moving forward; college
professors provide generalized comments without marking each instance and expect you to think critically about their
feedback and apply when working on the next exam or essay or activity. 

College is different. Are you ready? Part of the

You--In Charge Series