Growing Up in College, Literally

Our oldest daughter, Sara, slept through her first college exam but she had a pretty good excuse. She was only two months old.

When you have a parent who teaches at a university, your introduction to campus life starts early. I had a theory that our raised-on-a-campus daughters arrived at college with a different perspective on campus life than their classmates. To test my theory I posed this question to them, “What did you learn as kids by growing up in college?” Here’s what they had to say.

Read your books

First and foremost, both daughters weighed in with “your professors expect you to read your textbooks”. Veronica, our PhilaU daughter, pointed out that this was Dad’s number one tip too. Actually, my husband puts it a little differently. His syllabi say “READ, READ, READ the assigned material.”

Proofreading works

Veronica has noticed, in observing classmates over the years, that solid writing skills can make a good student a great student. All students should begin by proofreading their own papers, but Veronica believes that “even great students should have someone to edit the really important papers”. As independent support of this suggestion, our older daughter, Sara, was often recruited as a proof-reader for classmates’ papers.

Go to class

Seem like a no-brainer? Our daughters have had many classmates who exercise their new-found freedom by skipping classes, lots of them. Veronica says, “it’s super important to attend classes because they’re only held a few times a week, compared to every day in high school, so there’s more packed into them.” Borrowing class notes is good in a pinch but it’s no substitute for exposure to the collegial experience of a real live class.

Professors are people too

Veronica notices that students can feel intimidated by some of their professors. From her perspective she comments that “I know so many professors in a completely social and non-education sense because they are my Dad’s friends whom I have been around my whole life. It is easy for me to see them as just regular people, like my Dad, who have normal lives outside of the university and are most likely not out to get me and give me a bad grade.”

Plagiarism is never OK

It’s also more easily detected than students realize. Both of our girls echoed this sentiment because they have been hearing this mantra for as long as they can remember. Plagiarism takes many forms and most professors use software to detect possible instances in students’ work, so it is difficult to “get away with it”. It also bears heavy consequences including, in some cases, failure or expulsion.

Independence rocks

Parents know that college is a time for their students to gain some independence but it can be a challenge for parents to hold back when their students are challenged by new situations. One of our girls said “I know Dad used to say that parents would call him with issues” (no names or details, of course) “but college can be a good time to learn to fight your own battles and, if you have an issue with a teacher or a grade it's time to learn to deal with it.” It’s a huge accomplishment and a good feeling when students solve problems on their own, even when it takes trial and error. Besides, when it comes to academics, confidentiality laws prohibit professors from discussing their students’ performance with parents.


I hope this gives you a new perspective on college life, one that you may find opportunity to share with your students. Most who encounter the common pitfalls of college life learn much from the experiences. But the notable situations that Sara and Veronica mentioned here are worthy of the “ounce of prevention” proverb coming, in these instances, from the “mouths of babes”.