A College State-of-Mind

As a kid, I used to live right across the street from my elementary school and I would go over there after school and jump out of trees and swing as a high as possible on the swing set. On one of those occasions, an older, retired teacher made friendly banter about my fifth-grade teacher and said to me: "you know, Mrs. W has a degree in physics." I was simply astonished. How could this possibly be that my teacher went to college, graduated and has a degree in an otherwise male-dominated field? At the time, I had no idea that sciences were mostly male-dominated. But, I knew deep-down they were (I could just feel it, but this is a subject for another post).

It didn't occur to me that my teachers could have gone to college. And at that time, I simply knew no one who had graduated from college.

My dad always asked me what university I wanted to attend and I would tell him "YALE!!" without knowing the implications of the admission process. For him, college wasn't a possibility, it was a requirement. It wasn't if I go, but where I go.

Over the course of my education, I heard this whole college thing over-and-over. But, it wasn't made real until my high school teachers talked about their time at a university.

And that's why it's important to have a college-minded atmosphere at school. We sport our college pennants at our desk, decorate with our mascot and talk openly about our university experience. We even have friendly rivalry between teachers and their schools.

Check out the lovely anteater mascot decorating my student of the month on the Student of the Month wall!

I may be the only person my student knows who went to college. Or I may be one of a hundred that my student knows. But, little things like setting a college state-of-mind may just pay off in the long run.

What do you think about setting a college state-of-mind for your students? What would you do at your school? Share your advice in the comments below!

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