Keys to College Success

COVID-19 Success Updates and Coaching Included

Carol Carter, Sarah Kravits

• Publisher: LifeBound
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781735189109
• Edition: 9
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Adult Education

For First Year Experience, Student Success, and Introduction to College courses for students attending four year programs. Keys to College Success sets the standard for connecting academic success to success beyond school, showing students how to apply strategies within college, career, and life. The Ninth Edition retains its tried-and-true emphasis on thinking skills and problem solving, re-imagined with two goals in mind: a risk and reward framework that reflects the demands today's students face, and a focus on student experience specific to four-year schools with a more extensive research base and increased metacognition. Keys to College Success provides the established KEYS set of tools for success—an understanding of how coursework connects to career and life goal achievement, and analytical, creative, and practical thinking coverage that empowers a range of cognitive ability. This content provides:

• COVID-19 Update: College students in 2020 need relevant information during the unprecedented time of COVID-19. This update of Keys to College Success includes up-to-the minute information on digital and distributed learning strategies and practical tips on resilience, persistence, purpose, and strength.
• College Connection to Career and Life Goals: Infused with a focus on risk and reward, showing that the reward of success in the modern world demands a risk of vision and persistent effort over time. It raises the bar to show students that they must risk action to grow, thrive, and contribute in order to make their college investment pay off in gainful employment, meaningful work, and community involvement.
• Thinking Skills coverage: Comprehensive content with research references lend credibility and perspective to concepts, targeted exercises that explore personally relevant situations in context, and sustained focus throughout each topic.
• Tailored to the four-year program experience: Acknowledges global economic change and instability and hones in on student concerns about employability skills and debt management so the four-year college experience is framed in practical, work-relevant ways even as it supports the value of a liberal education. New coverage of resources, topics, and research support concepts.

The Rewards of College

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK TO REACH YOUR GOALS?

What Would You Risk? John Diaz

THINK ABOUT THIS SITUATION AS YOU READ, AND CONSIDER WHAT ACTION YOU WOULD TAKE. THIS CHAPTER JUMP-STARTS YOUR TRANSITION, WITH INFORMATION ON WHAT COLLEGE HAS TO OFFER AND WHAT IT TAKES TO SUCCEED.

A brother to three sisters and the only son of divorced parents, John Diaz grew up in Northern California. He headed to Humboldt State University aiming for a career in broadcast journalism. As a sophomore, he started working at the school newspaper and campus radio station. He knew a Humboldt diploma didn’t guarantee career success, but he felt confident in his prospects. He thrived in the close-knit environment where the professors were so engaged with the students. “It really was the right fit for me,” John says.

Back then, John had low-risk ambitions—he didn’t crave a wealthy lifestyle or imagine crusading for global causes through journalism. However, the reality of the job market stalled even his reasonable career goals. First of all, in the late 1970s, the Watergate scandal had boosted interest in journalism, creating, as John puts it, “a glutted market” of journalists looking for work. Second, John worked at a local truck stop during college to help cover expenses, so he wasn’t available for internships that could have improved his job prospects.

Although discouraged by the fact that the number of journalism students exceeded the total jobs in the industry, John was ready to take a risk. He polished his résumé, created broadcast demo tapes, and sent out hundreds of job inquiries. His initial reward was exactly one positive response that turned out to be a dead end. Two months after graduating, he was working in a shoe store, wondering if any reward would come from his effort in college. “I was hoping lightning would strike,” John recalls.

To be continued …

IN THIS TEXT, YOU WILL MEET PEOPLE LIKE JOHN WHO HAVE TAKEN RISKS THAT HELPED THEM ACHIEVE IMPORTANT GOALS. WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN COMMON WITH THESE PEOPLE, THEY WILL EXPAND YOUR PERSPECTIVE AND INSPIRE YOU TO MOVE AHEAD ON YOUR OWN PATH. YOU’LL LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN, AND THE REWARD RESULTING FROM HIS ACTIONS, WITHIN THIS CHAPTER.

status CHECK

How Ready Are You to Risk Effort for the Rewards of College?

For each statement, fill in the number that best describes how often it applies to you.

1 = never 2 = seldom 3 = sometimes 4 = often 5 = always

Each of the topics in these statements is covered in this chapter. Note those statements for which you filled in a 3 or lower. Skim the chapter to see where those topics appear, and pay special attention to them as you read, learn, and apply new strategies.

REMEMBER: NO MATTER HOW PREPARED YOU ARE TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE, YOU CAN IMPROVE WITH EFFORT AND PRACTICE.

WHY IS COLLEGE A RISK,

and what reward does it offer?

Think about the word risk. What, specifically, comes to mind? There are two different ways to think about risk. One involves risky behavior—impulsive decisions made with little or no forethought—such as substance abuse, unsafe sex, or breaking the law. The other concept is one of deliberate risk calculated to bring reward. Examples of this kind of productive risk include buying shares of stock in a new company or serving in the combat division of the military. This is the concept of risk that will take focus in this text—the one that will give you the power to achieve the rewards that are meaningful to you.

College is often seen as a risk-free, safe choice that increases your chances of career stability. However, striving for a degree in higher education is one of the most potentially rewarding risks of your lifetime. To follow this path, you will risk your most valuable resources—time, money, and yourself. You will dedicate time to learning and self-improvement. You, and anyone helping to finance your education, will commit a significant amount of money. You will sign up for years of responsibilities and challenges for both your mind and your body. Obtaining your degree is a perfect example of a targeted risk, calculated to produce reward down the line.

Well then, why take calculated risks? Why not save your money, time, and effort? Because only with productive risk-taking (not risky behavior) come the rewards essential to your success. Skills, intelligence, motivation, employment, growth, and advancement can be yours, but only as a result of hard work, dedication, and focus.

The Value of Risk in the Modern World

You are beginning your college experience in a time marked by rapid change that presents both opportunity and crisis. For example:

■ Many formerly domestic jobs have moved overseas.

■ Graduates working in the United States now compete with and work with people who live in different time zones, speak different languages, and have different perspectives.

■ Civic unrest is growing. With the “Occupy” movement of late 2011, for example, people pushed back against a tough economic climate and sparse job ­outlook.

■ Global media, communication technology, and transportation methods enable exposure to different people, places, values, cultures, beliefs, and perspectives.

■ Technological development continues at an ever-faster pace, demanding constant learning and training.

Even as college itself is a risk, it offers you the training, habit of learning, and comfort with risk-taking that you need to survive in this environment. It also improves your earning power. As Key 1.1 illustrates, statistics show that college graduates still earn an average of $40,000 more per year than someone without a degree. Money isn’t everything, but that amount can make a significant difference in your ability to pay loans, manage costs, and provide stability. Increased income is just one reward that makes a college education worth the risk. There are many more.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2009.” Current Population Reports, Series P60-238, September 2010.

The Rewards of College

You are aware of the risk you face. What rewards await you? You are an investor who has purchased four years of citizenship in a college community, with access to everything it has to offer. As such, you seek a rewarding return on the risk of that investment. Think about the following rewards as you choose how to spend your valuable time and energy. Your college website, student handbook, and course catalog will have specifics appropriate to your school.

A liberal arts education

Going back to the earliest days of education in this country, the focus of four-year colleges has been to give students a liberal arts education. In fact, the concept of a liberal arts education has its roots far in the past. Educators during the Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D. defined the liberal arts as those areas in which a “free” person (as opposed to a...