Comparing and Contrasting High School Teachers and College Professors

The paper titled “The Truth about College Teachers” is a former student’s analysis of her past professors. She categorizes them into three categories, the Knowledgeable One, The Leader of Intellectual Discussion, and The Buddy. Overall, this paper was interesting to read but came across as whiny.

In high school many teachers would nag about how college professors wouldn’t care and be helpful but boy where they wrong. Sometimes I wonder if they even went to college. Coming into college, I was quiet afraid that I would not have professors that cared for their students to succeed. I imagined them being mean, strict and stuck-up. To my surprise, all of my professors so far have been more than willing to assist me. They are a fountain of knowledge. Many have given me different types of contact information so if I’m ever struggling with an assignment I can get ahold of them one way or another. One professor even gave us his skype information. Talking to other students, I’ve learned that I’m not the only one who feels like this. They’ve shared with me their wonderful learning experiences that the professors have given them. Where they have great environments and professors who been really supportive. I feel like when professors and students have a good relationship, learning goes

College is an exciting and challenging time. You are thrown into a whirlwind of new experiences with new people, a new place, and new teachers. This can be a challenge, especially when class sizes are large for most general education courses. I have thought so many times during my college education, “I wish that my teachers knew…”. I wish my teachers knew my background. I wish my teachers knew what my major is. I wish my teachers knew my learning styleI am sure I am not the only student who has had these thoughts while enrolled in a college institution. These three “wishes” if brought to reality would shape and transform my college experience in ways I cannot comprehend.

Professor Keith M. Parsons talks about the differences between professors and teachers the differences between high school and college and how we only learned for standardized tests. In his article, Message to my Freshman Students. He also states that his job is not to make us learn that as students is our job to learn. Is our job to listen not just listen as if you were listening to your favorite song but too listen critically which I agree completely with.

There has been an issue with high school education and college education. Some would take the college road, but others would take the high school education. However, the primary idea of the movie” Ivory Tower”, Jullien Gordon Speech and the website “The Classroom | Synonym,” in my opinion, is the comparison and contrast of high school education and college education.

I was well informed by this article that college professors do not take anything as a joke and they will surely tell you what they think based on your actions. After readinig this article it gives me a better understanding of how not to act in front of a professor and if I need any assistance then I can go visit them during their office hours even if it may be a bit awkward for me. In High School we are not mentally being prepared for college because the teachers are not setting regulations for what they expect from the students during classroom hours. In my opinion High School teachers get too comfortable with their students that if they see them doing the work even when

Nine times out of ten students don’t understand the material that is students, but they memorize facts and information so they can get good grades. The problem with that is students aren’t learning but instead, stressing out on what the teachers deem “A” worthy. Teachers admit that they focus on grading students than making sure they understand the topic. “Teachers have become so focused on academic expectations due to pressures that they have little time to focus on other elements of education.” (Duffy). When students graduate and go on to college they get a huge reality check because just memorizing the material won’t cut it and that’s when the students who just breeze through high school fall to the bottom of their class.

The otherwise valid message of “A Message to My Freshmen Students” is rendered ineffective by the logical fallacies and the heavy handedness of Mr. Parsons’s choice in wording. You have to look past these errors to fully discern the moral of his article; the high school learning experience is different from the university experience.

As the first few weeks passed of my first year of high school, I began to find my place. I somewhat knew where I was going but I still had to look at my schedule to see what classroom I was going to. The first class I had was civics and that was where I met my favorite teacher, Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman and I have previously met due to my older sister throwing discus and shot put on the track team. Civics was one of my favorite classes because I always was interested in government and Mr. Freeman’s humor made the class enjoyable. As the weeks passed I noticed a huge difference between middle school and high school. In middle school the teachers seemed to baby you because you were “young,” but in high school, they treated you like you were adults and you had more responsibilities. I was looking forward to the new responsibilities because it would keep me busy and would also help me learn.

High school students lack the etiquette they need in the college setting. In high school, students depend on the teachers to give them their assignments and remind them on the assignments they need to complete. College professors assign the work

When considering the differences between high school teachers and college professors, we should also consider the audience in which they are preforming for. In a college setting, those young adults are there by choice and pay for their education. In a high school setting the teacher must teach children from all backgrounds, socioeconomic conditions, and cultures. The teacher has to work with what she has been given and can not simply turn a student away and not teach them due to her own standards. The high school teacher must go to the level of the student and work hard to teach even the most troubled student. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the news release entitled “College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2014 High School

Another point brought up is what Professor Parsons’ opinion is on teachers in high school. He says “Teachers are not allowed to teach, but are required to focus on preparing you for those all-important standardized tests.” Coming from a high school environment I can identify with this information to teachers being more willing to give you the answer if you take up to much time of the things that they are actually forced to complete. The freedom that teachers once had is not there where they as educators can teach the things that they through life have found important. Also important is the fact that there is a difference in hearing and actually critically listening to what you are being told and learning in all that you do constantly. Education

In the 1990s, reformers thought they could improve teaching and learning in college if they insisted that colleges declare their specific “learning goals,” with instructors defining “the knowledge, intellectual skills, competencies, and attitudes that each student is expected to gain.”13 The reformers’ theory was that these faculty-enumerated learning objectives would serve as the hooks that would then be used by administrators to initiate reviews of actual student work, the key to improving teaching. The logic went like this:

to hold your hand as a child so to speak, and remind you on a daily

College can be very overwhelming and stressful at times. Many students struggle to keep up with all their assignments and due dates. There are many resources on college campuses that can aid students in time management; paper writing and studying habits, but the main resource that students tend to neglect are their professors. Professors are the ones that are teaching the material, assigning the homework and making the test. Student faculty interactions can be crucial to a student’s success in college. Whether it is for internship opportunities or recommendations, teacher’s jobs are to help students learn and succeed. Teachers are a great, free resource in college that seems to go unnoticed. Student-faculty interactions have major effects on a student’s self-efficacy and academic integrity. These are just a handful of the countless effects of student-faculty involvement.