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Show Freshmen Are Confused Says College Survey CLAREMONT, Calif. (AP) "College "Col-lege is a strange and baffling world to most freshmen. They just don't know what they are getting into." THAT IS THE considered opinion of a group of faculty men who for years have been watching young people embark on the stormy seas of higher education at the Clare-mont Clare-mont colleges. It is a national problem, and it is not new. But it becomes increasingly increas-ingly urgent as growing hordes of students pound on college doors for admission. Sometimes it is a matter of their high school preparation. "There is a great gap between high school and college courses in the social sciences, and even greater great-er in economics,' 'says G. N. Rost-vold, Rost-vold, acting dean of Pomona College, Col-lege, one of the Claremont group. "IT IS ASTONISHING, the reason rea-son so many bright youngsters want to go into science," says John Brownell, of the Claremont Graduate Grad-uate School and University Center. "They think 'it's the thing to do.' But in college they find out they aren't really bright in science, they're just bright. They can be happier, and just as successful, in some other field." Sometimes it is a part of the process of growing up. "The door to college may also be the doorway to maturity," says William (Frenaye, assistant of Pitzer College. "THERE IS A vast difference in the thinking of a high school senior living at home, and that same person per-son just a few months later living in a dormitory with young people from all over the world. "It is understandable if he becomes be-comes confused and a little lost." THE FIVE federated but independent indepen-dent Claremont colleges a sixth opens in September are prestige institutions, competitve and highly selective in their admissions policies. poli-cies. Thus, they are able to skim off the cream of the high scholarship of graduates. Even so, say the faculty fac-ulty men, few of their freshmen are prepared for what college has to offer. "THEY AREN'T prepared for the relationship between the disciplines literature and history for example," exam-ple," says Douglas McClellan, chairman chair-man of the art faculty of Scripps College. "The high schools no longer teach history and literature together. It comes as a surprise to find how closely they are related on a college col-lege campus." McClellan also says the pressure pres-sure to get into college tends to limit or distort a student's high school program. ! "Many students who should take an art course in high school don't, because they are afraid it will hurt their chances of getting into college." |
