Afternoon Must-Read: John Scalzi: Freshman Freakouts

John Scalzi: Freshman Freakouts: “This piece in the New York Times magazine…

…talking about the differences in graduation rates between the kids in the upper economic levels (and the ones whose parents went to college) and the ones at lower levels…. Roughly speaking, one of the best indicators of whether you’ll finish college at all is whether your parents did; without that knowledge base (and economic leg up) things become rather more difficult. The story covers how the University of Texas…. The article interested me because to no small extent it is about me, or at least people like me…. I had, in fact, gone through that upheaval and transition period–but in high school, not in college. I went to a private college prep boarding school as a scholarship student, and my freshman year there was a mess….

What kept me there, as it happened, was what UT is working on as well: mentoring, direct intervention and an unwillingness to let me allow my own insecurities convince me that I didn’t belong. I was fortunate to have a number of people make me their project, basically. And it worked…. I was fortunate to have my crises early; the thought of possibly screwing up at the college level fills me with a bit of retroactive dread. I’m glad University of Texas is trying things to keep those kids from the lower rungs of the ladder from falling off entirely. I approve, and I hope it continues to work…