“Where are you going to apply to college?”
Parents, teachers, neighbors, counselors, relatives and friends begin to ask students that as early as their freshman year of high school. So instead of reading Shakespeare, we students immerse ourselves in a plethora of college guidebooks, news reports and websites to answer this question. (The ridiculous title of Princeton Review’s popular guidebook, “The Best 361 Colleges,” reveals how momentous this task can be.)
Unfortunately, our obsession with the college application process has begun to overshadow our learning experience in high school. We pay more attention to the advice of our college counselors than to the wisdom of our teachers.
Many college-prep schools have become little more than SAT, ACT and AP prep schools. By focusing on college entrance exams, high schools prepare us to get accepted to college, not excel once we’re there. This may account for the increasing number of college freshmen whose writing and analytical skills are deficient.
Students don’t develop these skills by writing corny application essays and answering multiple-choice questions.
“No one cares what high school you attend,” a friend tells me. “All that matters is college.”
But while high school may have a limited impact on our career opportunities, it remains a crucial component of intellectual and personal growth.
Instead of leaving high school with a love of learning, students feel drained. Many students enroll in too many difficult classes, join too many sports teams, and volunteer for too many organizations in hopes of creating the perfect college résumé. Our motivation for doing everything from community service to joining the chess team now has been put in question. We ask ourselves, “Will this class look good on my transcript?” instead of “Is this a class I’ll enjoy?” The desire to get into the best colleges can reduce our high school activities to résumé-fillers.
The pressure of applying to colleges not only drains students, it distracts them. Our priorities are skewed: We read college brochures instead of great novels, visit college campuses instead of art museums, and attend SAT review courses instead of live theater. Something’s wrong when college information sessions attract more parents than parent-teacher conferences.
Because high school culture now places so much emphasis on the next step, we lose sight of the real goal of high school: education of the whole person. Instead of taking summer classes, students should take a break beneath a shady tree. This won’t bolster our résumés, but it will improve our spirits.
Parents and schools are making a mistake when they encourage students to start thinking about college at a younger and younger age. It’s one thing if the college application process taints senior year; it’s another entirely if it permeates the entire high school experience. The process is, in fact, far simpler than the guidebooks pretend, and far less deserving of our time.
When US News & World Report revived its magazine by publishing an annual college-ranking report, the rest of the publishing and educational world took note. Promoters of college application guides and test preparation services quickly capitalized on the concerns of parents and students about getting into the best colleges. Lots of money can be made by ratcheting up anxiety about the college application process.
We can only deflate such anxieties by limiting this process to its proper time and place. I loved my first three years of high school because I could appreciate activities for their own merit without being distracted by college considerations. The summer before my senior year, however, my mom bought one of those mammoth college guide books and started to worry. At every opportunity, she interrogated me about where I wanted to apply, how far along my applications were, and whether I had procured recommendations from my teachers. She enrolled me in SAT classes and dragged me to college fairs. And I wasn’t alone: My fellow seniors talked incessantly about the colleges they had applied to and visited.
Although the college application process may already have a firm grip on senior year, there is no reason to extend its influence by asking younger and younger students, “Where do you want to go to college?” This question depreciates the high school experience if asked too soon. So perhaps parents should return to the old-fashioned question: “What did you learn in school today?”
Denver native Michael Koenigs (mckoenigs@hotmail.com) is a Harvard University sophomore. He was a Colorado Voices columnist in 2005.
