Parents of high school students often inquire what they can do to help their children prepare for college. They consider AP classes, sports, even SAT prep work as the silver bullet. My two suggestions surprise most.
Read books. Fiction, nonfiction, historical fiction, science fiction — it doesn’t matter what genre they read. Just read books. How is it possible that students complete high school without having read one book independently? How is this preparing a student for college? It is no wonder students come to me struggling with college essay requirements.
High schoolers cannot learn to write without exposure to different styles of writing. It is always clear from students’ drafts whether they are readers. Student who read develop a variety of sentence structures, vocabulary and know how to include dialogue in their writing. Modeling reading is one way parents can help students.
My second suggestion is more challenging. Teach your children to limit their exposure to electronic media and devices. Many students are literally addicted to cell phones and the internet.
Recently, National Public Radio addressed this issue, interviewing a variety of college professors on the attention span of students (npr.org/sections/ed/2015/11/10/453986816/how-to-get-students-to-stop-using-their-cellphones-in-class.) They found that most students could not keep from checking their devices throughout a class. If required to turn off phones before class, college students claimed they were too unnerved by being disconnected to concentrate for the entire class. Faculty members admit to giving students 15 minute breaks to check messages. Students often check messages while reading textbooks or completing assignments.
It is not possible to retain the same information when this distracted. College preparatory boarding schools combat this issue by requiring students to turn off all devices for nightly two-to-three-hour study sessions. These institutions argue that students are better able to concentrate, and for longer periods of time, without the distraction of cell phones and the internet.
I understand both of these suggestions are difficult to implement and enforce. However, the ability to handle the reading and writing workload and being able to fully concentrate on the subject matter covered in college is paramount.
Maria Badami is a college consultant with College Directions of CNY in Fayetteville. 243-6658. collegedirectionscny.com.
