“I have a check for you for $500,000,” I unexpectedly found myself saying to a high school senior recently. That conversation spooled into a whole new perspective on introducing kids to college — one that I think will truly pay strong dividend$ in a time when every college dollar needs to count.
“To receive this check, your job is to earn a bachelor’s degree with a 3.5 GPA,” I went on to explain. “Knowing that this check is waiting for you, how would you go about accomplishing this so that you get to claim it?”
Silence. And then, finally, “I guess I’d work harder.”
“Work harder… hmmmm. What does that actually mean?” I asked.
“Well, you know, work harder.”
As the conversation went on, it dawned on her that the source of the cool half million would be her own income, if she planned her college education as a business venture. We talked about how 
to get the most for her money, where she could save, how to seek out support; we strategized about what classes to take, approaching the act of learning as a “job” responsibility in the business of attending college; and how to zoom in to find a major she’d love that would lead to a career she would also love — one that could make her a good living in today’s world.
We went on to talk about adopting a project management approach to knocking out college courses.
One thing I’ve noticed with genuine alarm is the use of technology by high schools and colleges to keep track of students’ assignments for them. With no record-keeping on their own part, a couple of clicks let’s them see what’s due.
I think this is a case of the pendulum swinging too far. Historically, writing down assignments, mapping out and completing them, keeping track of grades and turning things in on time was the responsibility of the student. There were, of course, a small minority of instructors who habitually were weeks behind in grading, so students could not monitor their own progress. I’m guessing that irate parents, whose students did not fare well in this situation, demanded change. So, we’ve gone from almost no communication between high school instructors and parents — to full access to a website with their adolescents’ real-time grades and assignments.
The hope, of course, is that parents could help their kids stay on track (and maybe stop blaming the teachers when they don’t). But the result that I’m seeing more often is that young adults experience a blurring of boundaries of responsibility for their school performance. Their parents are now tracking their assignments — after the school relieves them of the task of writing them down! Independent initiative to bring a grade up is often overshadowed by a parent’s noticing it before the student, followed by an unpleasant, motivation-killing confrontation. In effect, parents have, to varying degrees, taken over responsibilities that rightly belonged to students stepping into the demands of adulthood. Failure is not allowed to happen.
While adolescents vary in the level of support they need from adults, they are all developmentally slated to strive for independence. Too much intrusion into their responsibilities can have the nasty effect of taking away their privacy and their initiative. But even when parents handle these new powers judiciously and respectfully — and some do it wonderfully — there’s the plain and simple truth that in order to succeed in college and in the work of their choice, young adults need to be able to own and manage their own responsibilities.
I can say for certain that no job I have ever had came with a daily to-do list prepared especially for me. And yet, my young client had almost no skill in envisioning an assignment as a series of steps, never mind estimating the time needed for completion in order to come up with a reasonable start date.
As I continued to talk with this student, all of these opportunities for self development became evident. In fact, it was such a good conversation that it will become “College: Your First Business” — the next Self Development Place ecourse — designed especially for students graduating high school or completing their freshman year of college.
The point is, “working harder” just won’t cut it. Success requires vision, strategizing, determination, and focus — all of which fall out naturally from approaching college as a business venture and students as entrepreneurs.
Gosh, I wish someone had shown me how to do that!
