Last week I decided to try to gather all my college Facebook friends who have been popping up into one place. I started a Facebook group for the 40 or so folks who've been reconnecting after our days spent in the mid-to-late 70s beside Western PA's scenic "Beaver Vale." I'm a Geneva College grad. As our alma mater says, it's "the college where I spent such happy days." We've been having some fun reminiscing and we're only getting started.
Thinking about my college days is somewhat bittersweet as my memories are serving to emphasize the contrast between what once was, and what now is. College is not an easy place for anybody these days. The pressures, challenges, expectations, choices, opportunties, and problems are sometimes over the top. That reality is what drove us here at CPYU to establish our College Transition Initiative a few years ago. With every year that's passed and every conversation I have (with college students and their parents), I become more and more convinced of the necessity and value of what our College Transition Initative Director Derek Melleby is doing.
Another few days and we're into March. For those of you - both parents and youth workers - who have high school seniors finalizing plans, graduating from high school, and getting ready to head off to school next fall, you've got a few months left during which you can turn up the volume on being proactive in the college preparation process. And I'm not talking just about academics. There's much more to the college experience than that.
Derek's done a great job putting together a host of resources you can use. You can read more about them on the CTI section of our website. What I will directly encourage you to do is think about scheduling Derek to come in and present our College Transition Seminar with the juniors and seniors you know and love. We've still got some dates available this Spring.
And in case you aren't convinced that your kids need to be prepared for the college transition, let me point you to a new music video from Asher Roth that released in mid-February and is now one of the most viewed and requested at mtv.com. I haven't put it here to alarm you. . . . just to show you how folks in popular culture are defining, viewing, and living the college experience. If this is the kind of stuff that's preparing your kids for college, don't you think they might need to hear something else?
4 comments:
When was pop culture's definition of something ever accurate, or relevant, for that matter?
If someone lives the "college life" like that... then they mustn't have to worry about paying for it with their own money. If their goal is to have a good time, I'm sure they arrived at that long before arriving on campus.
It's a parody... it's MTV... neither of which should be confused with reality. It does, however, have a good beat behind the lyrics, which may account for a percentage of the requests.
Folks in the "popular culture" rarely have to "live the college experience," as they, being in the popular culture, would most certainly have the financial backing to support the adoption of such habits pictured in the video... without repercussions.
The video can have an alternate title: "How to WASTE YOUR LIFE"
i've been hearing this song on the radio for a couple weeks out here in north jersey...not so sure it's a parody...
my heart breaks for the kids who actually buy into it, and worse for the folks who are living it without realizing how destructive it is...
thanks for the post~
the reality is that thousands of youth and young adults are living this life, in high school and college. besides the obvious sadness surrounding these unfulfilling choices, it's unfortunate that (whether it be via music, tv, or video) they very rarely ever show the true repercussions of these choices. i've never seen nor heard of someone who wakes up the morning after a major party and has a smile on their face.
the truth of the matter...in the party life style, reality hurts - just like the morning after.
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