Misunderstanding the student: challenges of colleges explored

College is viewed as a place where students enter the final phase in their academic lives and discover their identities as individuals. It is a pivotal time in a young adult’s life. However, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have found that colleges are not teaching the life-learning lessons needed to face the challenges of growing up.

"We tend to look at a student’s readiness for college based on academics, such as test scores and grades," said Douglas Hunt, professor of English at MU. "But what is more important to students is the ability to work as adults and to act on their own. This isn’t formally part of the college curriculum, but it is crucial to success."

Hunt followed 19 first-year composition students for one semester, taping all their interactions with the teacher, examining their writing, and interviewing them outside class. He wanted to see how ready these students were to function in their new environments. From this class of 19, Hunt selected six representative cases for close study. Two of the students performed quite well; the other four were handicapped by social and psychological immaturity.

Hunt found, for instance, that one of the female students had extremely low self-esteem. He said that she had performed well and happily in middle school. However, after being derailed by physical changes and the death of her father, the student felt that it was no longer "cool" to be keen on learning. More importantly, Hunt says, she lost her desire to join the adult world.

"Her setback continued to plague her in college," Hunt said. "Like a 14-year-old, she couldn’t work without someone else in her room to socialize with. But to write a good college paper, you have to be able to close the door and be alone with your thoughts."

One male student was so distracted by the expectations and standards his father had set that he had difficulty focusing his thoughts as he wrote. It was as though his father was always in the room with him, warning him that he’d better not fail, Hunt said.

Hunt feels there needs to be more adults available to students during this difficult time in their lives in order to show them that they too, experienced the same challenges.

"The function of college in our society is a place for people to grow up, but being surrounded by people in the same age group and going through the same problems without any guidance is the wrong setting for many students," Hunt said.

Hunt recently published a book on his study titled, Misunderstanding the Assignment: Teenage Students, College Writing, and the Pains of Growth.

Additional links:

Douglas Hunt
English Department

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