<p>S says college is easier than high school because time management is easier. First of all, he doesn’t have to sit in classes 7 hours a day, M-F so there’s more leeway to fit his EC’s in around study time, or vice versa. Secondly, unlike in high school where teachers usually don’t give out syllabi and where they can throw at you a big assignment or test completely out of the blue, in college you know from Day 1 what your course obligations will be, when your exams will be, etc. so it’s easier to plan your life. The material is harder, but S feels he has more time to work on it so it balances out. Also, in college he hasn’t been assigned any stupid busy work assignments like posters or edible models that would sap his time.</p>
<p>OMG, edible models, we never dealt with that…it sounds horrible. The worst HS assignment for DS was when his junior English teacher made them sew together a stuffed rat and dress it up like a literary character…and actually gave them a full grade on it. I thought he was going to punch someone he was so angry at the arts & crafts part of the assignment.</p>
<p>Depends on the HS and the College. If you go to a high performing HS, then you will be well prepared for College. If you go to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Sanford, etc, you will be expected to perform at a very high level, and take classes with high performing students.</p>
<p>I went to a high performing High School and a Big 10 University. I thought it more of the same. What made college easier is: You didn’t have to take as many classes you didn’t care about. 90% of my classes interested me, so it was easy to do well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So, if you’re taking 16 credit hours, that’s about 16 hours of class time per week. Four hours for every hour in class would be 64 hours. So, that’s a total of 80 hours a week of academics, more than 11 hours per day. Not a chance, not for me or anyone I know.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>God, do I hate people who love that kind of thing and get A’s because of it. I’m talking real, seething, deep resentment here.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I had such fun dressing a Ken doll up as a character from the Canterbury Tales for Son’s AP English Lit assignment…it was a true work of art! There is no way Son could have done a quarter of the job I did…and he did tell his teacher that I pretty much did the whole thing and he still got a 100.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmm, I need to rethink this. That actually sounds like a lot of fun.</p>
<p>My D had a Ken doll project in 5th grade. She sewed it herself, and the teacher took points off because the buttons were not sewn on straight. I tell you, she cried (D -although I would have liked to see the teacher cry…). I had to resew it, so she could get a better grade. The lesson here - parents do the kids work?- teacher is a ***? Some people do not belong in teaching? The same teacher also had the kids dress up an egg. My D said those eggs stunk to the high heavens before they got thrown out. BTW, my D is actually fairly good at art and arts and crafts.</p>
<p>It’s funny how it’s all of us parents of boys who are commiserating on the busywork arts and craftsy projects for some high school classes. My son could never figure out why they had to make an edible cell for honors bio or a pretty poster to go along with the lab reports for ap environmental science or research papers for ap gov.</p>
<p>Its also pretty important to note, that in college, people are usually taking classes that they’re at least interested in. Personally, that plays a pretty huge factor for me, since I’m much more motivated to study and go to class. Its not like high school where you have to take every subject (even if you absolutely hate it)</p>
<p>boysx3, my boys just wail and moan about these silly art type projects and most of the time I have to agree and wonder what the heck these teachers are thinking. I can understand making a model of a heart in elementary school, I can almost “get” pictogram type projects in elementary school, I can see a paper mache solar system in elementary school… but in high school…not so much. Everyone in my son’s class had to make a pinata for the Spanish final. OK…sounds fun…but what did they learn? They learned how to make a pinata, that’s all. Dressing up a Ken doll?? If my kids came home with that assignment I’d be seething inside. There’s no way I would lift a finger for a stupid project like that. I don’t even like the “poster projects” where they hop on the internet, print 5 pictures and add a few bullet points. Interestingly the kids “know” which projects are valuable - like a toothpick bridge and seeing how much weight it will hold. But stooopid projects…they know this, too. I give all the help I’m asked for with a value add project, but my time and our kids’ time is worth more than dressing up a Ken doll. This is why certain kids just dislike high school busywork and frankly I don’t blame them one bit. No wonder certain kids thrive in college.</p>
<p>On the poster/dressing-up-an-egg/Ken-doll thing:</p>
<p>I can see that in grade school. I can imagine it in high school, although I think it’s inappropriate. But imagine it in college.</p>
<p>I started off studying be become a math teacher. After one year I transferred to Arts & Sciences and got a plain-old math degree, ultimately becoming an engineer. Why did I change my major? Because of crap like this.</p>
<p>The so-called education classes were stupid. Educational psychology, which I thought I would love, actually focused on putting together attractive bulletin boards and other non-academic drivel. And my college was, at least at that time, supposedly one of the best teachers’ colleges in my state.</p>
<p>What a shame, because I think I would have made a good teacher. But I just could not stand three more years of that garbage.</p>
<p>To bring this full-circle, perhaps that’s why our kids are still dressing up Ken dolls and eggs in high school: because the teachers are the ones who didn’t mind that kind of activity when they were studying to become teachers. If, on the other hand, a math teacher studied, say, how to be really, really good at math, maybe our kids would graduate with a better knowledge of math or something.</p>
<p>End of rant. Sorry.</p>
<p>I left out two other reasons why college is harder than high school</p>
<ol>
<li><p>In addition to what I said in a prior post ( post number 5 above), you are competing with generally better, pre-screened kids in college, which isn’t the case of high school.</p></li>
<li><p>College grades are curved: In high school , the teacher wouldn’t mind giving half the class A’s if they got over a certain grade on their tests. When I taught college, I gave about 10% A’s and 20% B’s with some exceptions. Thus, kids are not only competing with smarter kids but they are being subject to tougher grading requirements.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>That should mean that kids who attend a high school with competitive admissions should fare better in college, since they are accustomed to working with more capable peers.</p>
<p>Which leads me to wonder, if the average MIT freshman from a typical public school would rate the difficulty as a 9 (or whatever), might the typical MIT freshman from a competitive-admissions high school rate it more like a 6?</p>
<p>Yes, yes, I know it depends on the student, the school, etc. But in general…</p>
<p>College for me was MUCH harder than HS. I went from HS Salutatorian to barely passing in college. The subjects were harder and the competitive pool was much better.</p>
<p>Some parts of college are much easier for my D. </p>
<p>At her college people don’t automatically assume that girls get their great grades by busy-work and diligent plodding. That they, too, can be great and innovative thinkers capable of flashes of brilliance. In high school I can remember the surprise of some males and parents of males after math competitions and after standardized tests when their brilliant boys got scorched by “that girl who works all the time”. D actually had a boy (and later, his mom, a teacher at the high school) flat out tell her- “I never knew you were THAT smart. I just thought you worked real hard.” That was the prevailing attitude at her school. Maybe at some of your schools, too? ;)</p>
<p>We all gain our perspective from what we have watched our children endure. Sometimes it’s nice on CC to consider what others have watched their children endure. Edit: IMO broader perspectives make for a better community. They have opened many doors for my D in college and she has walked through with much gratitude. It has been so nice to not be intellectually stereo-typed based on gender. </p>
<p>I’m sorry any child has to sew costumes for a Ken doll.</p>
<p>In most high schools, diligent work will result in straight As. In a good college class to get an A on a paper, you have to have something original to say, which is a pretty hard for many kids to realize at first…</p>
<p>Another major difference is that there is no “extra credit” and other “second chances”. Your grades on 2-4 tests pretty much determine your grade in the course, so there are no “great students that just don’t test well” in college…</p>
<p>My s just completed his freshman year at a LAC in New England, and found it extremely difficult compared to his public high school in Miami, FL. At one point he wanted to transfer to a local university, but I talked him out of it. The workload was more than he bargained for. Hopefully next year will be better and he will have more confidence after completing an internship in his field.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>One student at MIT found that MIT was easier than her IB program. :eek:</p>
<p>S2 developed his love of cooking in part from baking cakes and using them for cell models in middle school and pre-IB Bio. He HATES art projects that involve drawing, though. Has poor fine motor skills and does not do well with those, even though he tries hard.</p>
<p>S1 had an art project for his last project in senior Honors English. He drew the pics for the story board; the teacher wanted them to download screen shots from YouTube (illegally) and refused to accept the assignment. Words cannot describe the joy he felt when he got back his first writing assignment at college. Real writing, real feedback, real substance.</p>
<p>I think S1 expected his coursework to be more difficult than it was; I think he was superbly prepared from HS and the hammer will hit second year. Agree with others that going to class is crucial.</p>
<p>Word from S2’s friends is that after their really tough IB program, college is easier.</p>