What's the Difference?
Some of the ways in which college is different from high school.
James Hayes-Bohanan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Geography
Revised: February 12, 2007

RESPONSIBILITY ~ WORK LOAD ~ ADULTHOOD
VOLUNTARY LEARNING ~ PROFESSORS ~ DIVERSITY

Responsibility

The difference between college and high school is perhaps best illustrated by the example of three students who receive the same poor grade on an exam. They respond as follows:

Sally asks, "Are you going to curve this?  It was too hard."
Jane asks, "How did everybody else do?  What was the average?"
Mary asks, "What can I do to prepare better for next time?"
 
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Which of these students is in college?

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Work Load

A typical course load in high school includes more than 30 hours of classroom instruction, but 12 to 15 hours is considered a full load in college. The reason for this is that college courses typically require two to three hours of preparation for each hour spent in the classroom. Students are expected to come to class having already studied the material, so that more information can be covered each semester than is possible in a typical high school setting.

Adult Students

The vast majority of college students are adults, whereas almost all high school students are adolescents. This means that college students will have more competing responsibilities -- such as jobs and families -- than high school students. It also means, however, that college students are typically self motivated and more able to take responsibility for their own learning.

Among the adults in college are some -- often known as "non-traditional" or "returning" -- students who are older than the typical student who has recently completed high school. These students often face special challenges as they balance family and job responsibilities with school, especially if they have not been in an academic environment for a number of years. In many cases, however, they make special contributions to the classes they take, as they model a strong commitment to learning while sharing insights they have gained from added life experience.

Non-Compulsory Education

Although college is increasingly important for long-term financial security, it is not compulsory in this country. This means that all college students are enrolled voluntarily, and should be motivated more by their desire to learn than by the detailed requirements of the syllabus. Just as in high school, students who are most genuinely interested in learning for its own sake will be most successful.

Often, those with a desire to learn are discouraged or even ridiculed by their family members. If this sounds too familiar, you will find encouragement in Dear Abby's June 29, 2004 column, especially the letter from Dr. Ballou.

Teacher or Professor?

College faculty are called "professors," not "teachers." It is customary at Bridgewater to address professors as "Professor Smith,"  for example. Many professors have earned doctoral degrees; they may be addressed either as "Doctor Smith" or "Professor Smith" -- but not "Mrs. Smith."  The degrees will often follow the professor's name, as in Mary Smith, Ph.D. or Jane Smith, Ed.D.  The Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, although it is awarded in many disciplines besides philosophy. The Ed.D. is the Doctor of Education, which is awarded in the discipline of Education. "Doc," by the way, is a term of endearment for some professors and a minor annoyance for others.

Both teachers and professors undergo extensive training and evaluation before they are allowed into the classroom. Although exceptions are relatively common, college faculty generally lack the credentials to teach in elementary and high school, just as K-12 teachers lack the credentials to teach in colleges. Just as the needs of the institutions differ, so does the kind of training required.

One difference, for example, is that although many teachers contribute to ongoing scholarship in their fields, for professors this is an integral part of the job. This is why professors do not spend as many hours each week teaching as do high school teachers. Moreover, although professors do cooperate with each other, they enjoy a greater degree of autonomy to decide their own curricula and grading systems.

Something that surprises a lot of people coming from high school to college is that professors are sometimes not as easy to find. Professors spend fewer hours in the classroom and more hours doing research and serving on committees. These activities often require them to be away from their offices, or even away from the campus, for many hours or even entire days or weeks at a time.  Many professors I know (including myself) pride ourselves on having open doors when we are in the office, so students can feel comfortable dropping by, but we often must be away from the office. Sometimes a professor will even be away from his or her e-mail account for hours or days at a time, so communicating with professors requires a bit of patience and planning ahead.

Diversity

Multi-culturalism and diversity may have become clichés, but they are an important part of the college experience, and for many students they represent a significant departure from high school. Variety is the spice of life (please forgive another cliché), and variety both in and out of the classroom is a valuable part of the college experience.

General education programs are the foundation of any liberal arts program. The purpose of such a program, in my view, is to stimulate the intellect in a variety of ways, using the particular modes of learning and expression of a variety of disciplines. If successful, such an experience not only broadens each student's exposure to the world of ideas, but it also prepares the student for a variety of learning experiences in the future. It is the intellectual equivalent of athletic cross-training. It is what distinguishes a liberal-arts program from a vocational program. The dividends of such a learning program might not be readily apparent to the student until many years after the fact.

In addition to a stimulating curriculum, college life offers many opportunities to meet people from different backgrounds. For many people, college provides the first opportunity to work closely with people from another country or religious tradition. College is a time to have meaningful interaction -- often for the first time -- with somebody who has strongly different political views or who is of a different sexual orientation. Extra-curricular activities such as those provided by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, the Counseling Center and the Student Activities Office are not just for fun. They are an important part of what college has to offer, even for students who have only a small amount of time to devote to learning outside of the curriculum.


Return to my Not-the-13th-Grade page.
Any questions? Contact me at jhayesboh@bridgew.edu.
James Hayes-Bohanan, Ph.D.
Bridgewater State College