(This week’s civic education and engagement column from Danville’s The Republican newspaper.)
They walk through the campus dining hall doors for the first time, into something like Willy Wonka’s awesome factory. Everywhere they turn, they see different types of foods, including many of their favorites. Pizza and burgers, to be sure, but also stir-fry, sushi, pasta, and so much more. And I can really choose what I want? Every day? And Mom and Dad can’t make me eat something healthy?
No, you’re not envisioning college freshmen. I’m talking about third-graders. Eight- and nine-year-olds spending a school day becoming familiar with a college campus.
All the adults talking is kind of boring, yeah, but where they took us was so cool! Like getting to share a room with a funny roommate instead of your annoying sibling! Playing sports … and you need to see the gym! I bet the Pacers have a gym like that! Getting to choose the classes you want and only having to go to class a couple hours a day!
Oh, and there’s that eating whatever you want thing.
The third graders discover that colleges are places where all sorts of things happen in many separate buildings instead of down the hall. They observe classes where students are performing tasks that seem amazing. And they learn that higher education is something that isn’t just for their “smart” classmates. (You can probably still name the smart kids from your own third grade class.)
Every Plainfield third grader visits Franklin College during the spring. We reached out to nearly all the colleges and universities in central Indiana for tours, and most refused our request. Franklin embraced it and has cheerfully welcomed Plainfield third graders for several years. (Hmmm … something to keep in mind when recruiting new teachers. Go Griz!)
Why take kids on a college tour a decade before they’ll be old enough to sit in the classes they’re observing? Census data will show you that fewer than a third of the adults living in Plainfield have earned at least a bachelor’s degree. Parents represent a big share of those adults. The only impressions many of their kids have of higher education are the stadiums they see on TV sports. Many have never considered a future where they would become a student at one of those schools. They assume that’s something for wealthier or smarter people.
We know kids can’t be what they don’t see. And no, college isn’t for everyone. The visits aren’t structured or intended to convince third graders to commit to a PhD program (despite the widespread myth that public schools push college over everything else). The tours make sure every kid – every kid – knows what a college campus looks like and what goes on there. Like me, some of those kids will be the first in their family’s history to go away to school. Equipping them with the ability to envision themselves walking to class across a campus, and the resources to make that walk happen is an investment in a stronger, healthier community. We all benefit when our neighbors’ kids get smarter.
I’ve joined the visits a couple times just to watch the students’ reactions. The best part has been talking with them while walking between something called a dorm and the biggest library most have seen; asking their impressions of what they’d seen so far. There’s nothing more fun-filled – or more brutally honest – than a fired-up group of third graders. My favorite was the young man who, when asked to expand upon his description of college as “great,” replied, “You get to eat anything you want and sleep with your best friend!” I wonder what he’ll be doing in a decade.