Beyond the finish line – COVID-era kids go to college

Students who entered college this fall have been described as resilient and have been lauded for making it through a most unusual high school experience. Acknowledgement of their experience and resilience is entirely appropriate. But, as these students entered our classrooms and residence halls, we should not mistake their resilience for superpowers that have prepared them for what they will encounter in the first weeks of college.

The truth is many of these new students had help getting to the high school finish line—from their teachers and at-home support networks. They’ve not had (or even seen) the academic experiences or expectations that pre-COVID students had. Their education included more empathy than any previous cohort of enrolling students with grace given by their teachers and networks.

?These students are more vulnerable than pre-COVID students? and I worry it may extend to fragility— and we need to be prepared. I am not recommending we coddle. Instead, we may need to exercise a little more patience, a lot more understanding, and more intentionality in coaxing out all that they have within themselves.

COVID-era kids haven’t had deadlines – Deadlines for assignments, papers and even tests have been flexible in the best of circumstances, non-existent in the worst. High school teachers couldn’t apply strict deadlines for a variety of reasons: class absences, inconsistent delivery of material, and expectations of an enormous amount of latitude. Our entering students are conditioned to believe deadlines are recommended. We need to teach students about the importance of deadlines and over-emphasize that missing a deadline has consequences.

Parents for the Class of 2026 have been deeply involved – Our entering students’ parents have monitored their student progress through portals since they entered kindergarten. Teachers have encouraged this engagement and have enlisted parents and in-home support networks as partners in helping remind students of missing assignments and long passed deadlines/guidelines. Our first-year students have had an in-home safety net, which they’ve come to rely on as their primary support network. We need to teach students about assuming personal responsibility for their calendar, and the importance of planning ahead. We also may need to remind parents that their children are now college students and adults.

They have education gaps– High school teachers’ focus was on making it through the text, the chapter, the day and the year and what they covered in the classroom for this group of students was different than pre-COVID. We need to be prepared to make up for some of the gaps in knowledge resulting from the shift in priorities during these past couple of years.

First-year students haven’t received as much meaningful feedback – A focus on “getting through” means not getting as much helpful feedback—especially challenging critique of their work. Entering students won’t know what to do with some of their professors’ and class peers’ response to their work at the college level. Their resilience may be tested simply by the pressure of processing feedback. We need to balance an awareness of their vulnerability with the need to teach the importance of college-level discussion and critique.

They are just now learning about in-person relationships with persons their own age – It’s really hard to flirt and especially date over Zoom, which means that many of these new college students are only now encountering the complexities of human relationships. Most will experience the ups and downs without the in-home support network that pre-COVID high school students had. Our student support services must be prepared, and the rest of us need to be ready to play the role of a wise advisor to help these students process the complexities of human relations.?

The goal for most was getting to the finish line, not improving performance – I saved this for the last because it’s so important. Higher education expects and anticipates growth. This generation of students—almost universally focused on completion for its own sake—hasn’t yet experienced the incentives or rewards of improving performance, and may not understand its value to their lives and their futures. We need to be ready to be a performance coach, making a compelling case for setting goals beyond just reaching the finish line.

Having worked for liberal arts colleges for 30+ years, I know it’s the rare student who enrolls who has it all and is a deep-thinking, creative problem solver. Yet, we take it upon ourselves to ensure each one graduates with those skills. We’ve made that our purpose—or as Simon Sinek might say, our why. We need to see the same capacity within these students for greatness and bring it out in them.

We have some work to do to make sure this group of students succeeds because they may not understand what awaits them and what will be expected. Their special combination of resilience and vulnerability is an interesting mix. They have the capacity to be a highly empathetic, highly successful cohort of graduates. But to help them get there, we must be patient, empathetic and intentional in our approach. It’s important we do this now and in the coming years, as we remain attuned to the different needs of incoming classes impacted by the pandemic.

W. Kent Barnds is Executive Vice President of External Relations and Enrollment at Augustana College and is the parent of three resilient, vulnerable COVID kids, including one who entered college as a first-year student this fall.