THECOLLEGEDEGREES.COM BLOG

I remember thinking when I went to college that I was so glad I had left high school behind. No more catty comments, no more focus on whose designer jeans were classier. No more nasty comments based on the color of my hair or someone else’s skin. I imagined that everyone would be focused on which college degree programs were best for them, and what courses would help them accomplish their life goals.

Then I walked into the student commons and heard one girl comment, “He’s such a geek!” She was talking about the guy with the thick glasses and scruffy jeans across the room. I saw students from different ethnic and racial backgrounds in small clumps against the wall, and was disappointed to see that nothing had really changed. We might all be getting a degree, but the same issues with which we’d struggled all through high school were still before us.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to be involved in online degree courses while teaching at a local university. I was amazed at the free interaction between students. Many spoke openly of the struggles they had encountered before they decided instead to earn a college degree at home. They talked about how much more rewarding and painless it was to get a college degree online rather than by attending a traditional college campus.

In the last few months, I saw an interesting article stating that the majority of students from minority backgrounds were flocking toward online degree universities. I was puzzled by this, until I thought of the free interaction I had witnessed between students in the online class with which I had helped. Students were able to share their thoughts and feelings and ideas openly - and no one ever behaved with disrespect toward another.
It made me wonder - do we lose our prejudices when we don’t see our differences, or are distance degree students just more enlightened in that regard? Are they people who have the ability to focus on what really matters, and grow beyond the “high school” behaviors of labeling and discrimination? Are distance education students more mature than traditional college students, or are their priorities more focused?