Is Character as Important as Grades?
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Nancy L. Brown, PhD
Hooligans, vandals, and violent teens beware - your "pranks," and unsocial behavior may cost you admission to the college of your choice!As we have effectively raised the bar for students, many of today's college applicants have an "A" average, music, sports, and community service experience, so colleges have now started actively seeking students who will contribute positively to the college community by looking for feedback about the students conduct and character, in addition to their transcripts and test scores. Particularly amid heightened concerns about campus safety, more than 315 schools are requesting information from guidance counselors and students themselves about law breaking, disciplinary action, and even smoking in the bathrooms.
The questions are designed to help colleges select student with character and not just brains, and most high schools are warning incoming frosh that their behavior will impact college applications. Sadly, there are other schools that refuse to provide the information. It has been estimated that of the 1.2 million American teenagers who submitted the common application to join the college graduation class of 2012, it is estimated that about 5,500 had reported records of academic or behavioral misconduct.
I am very concerned that this new procedure really puts schools in a position of now only judging what inappropriate behavior is reportable to colleges, but also creates a situation in which honest reporting costs people their jobs when parent donors are angered and the number of students from the school getting into top schools starts to decline. Counselors are probably clear that violence against another student should not be swept under the rug, but what about drinking at a dance, cheating, or MySpace bullying? Who gets to decide what is important, especially if it did not result in a suspension or expulsion?
Photo credit: wassup_Bert_2332
Labels: College, Healthline
2 Comments:
At Thu Jan 31, 11:51:00 AM 2008,
Dan said…
I disagree with you objections. This approach show be applauded since it endorses a holistic approach to life and will shorten the divide between school and life. Your objection seem to be concerned with the bigger picture but does it really?
The currrent model denotes that only results matter. Kids are taught (by their parents in most cases) that getting high grades with any available means is what guarantees success.
Your objections show that same concern. If schools aren't producing results in students numbers, donors get upset and people lose jobs. The Enron guys were getting results but people still ended up losing their job because of character issues. Many people's lives are affected at work when a co-worker goes on a weekend bender that could also influence their jobs in the long term.
The fact is character matters and the colleges should be applauded for taking it into consideration. I'm sure that a mistake or two can be overlooked.
Even though it is not Quantitative, it is qualitative. We teach that in school so why can't a school use that same criteria to evaluate a student. They are already using the quantitative approach (grades, number of activities) so why the qualitative (character assessment) like in all other walks of life?
At Fri Feb 01, 10:26:00 AM 2008,
Nancy L. Brown, PhD said…
I am so sorry that my post was not clear - I agree with you that character should be taken into account and that this new approach is a great idea.
My issue is with the lack of guidance colleges are providing, which creates the situation where schools can choose not to report things - to protect jobs, reputation or donor base.
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