Academic ideals hardly match up to students' reality -- can the two be merged?

Cathy Small, an anthropology professor at Northern Arizona University, was troubled by undergraduate student behavior. \nWhy don't students take advantage of office hours? she wondered. Why do many students seem disinterested in learning? Why are many students seemingly unprepared for college life?\nSo Small decided to go "undercover" and put her anthropology research skills to work. She enrolled as a freshman at Northern Arizona, lived in a residence hall and navigated the ins and outs of advising, tutoring, campus bus systems and social networks. Her experiences, observations and reflections were published in "My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student" under the pseudonym Rebekah Nathan.\nCentral to professor Small's work is the question, what is the purpose of your educational experience at a college or university? (Or more, specifically for us, why are you at IU?)\nArguably the most important outcome of your education is not getting a job and a paycheck, but learning how to be a responsible citizen who can interact skillfully with both friends and strangers in our communities. But you will only maximize these skills if you refuse to check your curiosity at the door, expand your social spheres and build bridges between the academic and the world outside the classroom.\nProfessor Small found an abiding lack of curiosity among today's college students. Small saw that students infrequently mix with people unlike themselves. As much as universities have emphasized the importance of diverse communities, she noticed that many students are indifferent to diversity and fearful of branching out of their comfort zone, thereby limiting their educational potential. For example, throughout her research project, very few students questioned Small -- a 50-something woman with graying curls who could almost be a grandmother to many of the freshmen -- about her personal life or why she was back in college. The most personal questions she encountered were about her major, and she was primarily made to feel like an outsider, forced to forge connections among other "strangers" including transfer and international students. \nI've seen a similar suppression of curiosity among students I've taught, and I remember that feeling of discomfort as an undergraduate when asked to explore new social spheres that might challenge or undermine my previous experiences. But think of the possibilities and the vast learning potential if we let our innate curiosity flow and moved beyond the cliché identifiers of hometown, major and where you live.\nFrequently, it appears that many students want simply to acquire skills and participate in activities that translate directly into jobs and a salary after graduation, believing academic and intellectual pursuits are unrelated to these goals. Students in Small's study, for example, spent more time bragging about pulling off assignments with minimal effort than participating in political or philosophical discussions. The "serious stuff" interfered with efforts to fit in to campus culture and manage other commitments, such as organizations and jobs.\nHowever, I'm not convinced that learning for the sake of learning is completely passé. We just need to recognize that the "serious stuff" and its social and political implications are just as important and valuable for future success.\nFor students, college is about "fun, sociability and practicality," a place where the most valuable learning takes place outside of class. Small reported that nearly two-thirds of what students learn comes from lessons external to the classroom -- at work, in relationships, in living situations and in student organizations. But many faculty and administrators believe that academics must be central to student life, and they disregard or diminish the other life lessons occurring in student lives.\nRather than maintaining such a sharp division between the "academic" and the "extracurricular," students and faculty alike might consider how to marry the two apparently disconnected realms of learning in order to view other activities as co-curricular -- as vital complements to the classroom experience that must be incorporated to the "intellectual" learning process. Maybe this would help many students think of education as more than just a boring, static accumulation of facts to memorize. The entire educational package might be seen as dynamic and valuable to everyday life and community participation.\nYour challenges this academic year, no matter what your role at the University, are these: What will you do to maximize your learning outcome, express your natural curiosity and reach beyond the familiar and comfortable? How will you bridge the lessons from life experience to lessons in the classroom? And more importantly, how will you challenge yourself to "talk to strangers" and foster relationships that will both enrich your educational experience and enhance your ability to be an active community member -- rather than a civic couch potato?