Misperceptions of Pennsylvania’s College Students
Misunderstandings about college students run deep and tend to be alleged with sweeping generalizations. Those on the right boost the perception that college students are lazy elites who occasionally get out of bed to do drugs and yell about insufficiently woke Republicans. Those on the left reinforce the belief that conservative college students are callous Trumpaholics who scorn their LGBT classmates and join grassroots efforts to persecute their liberal college professors.
Maybe these characterizations are close to true on some campuses, but I can report from the inside of a public regional university that neither depiction is accurate.
Located in the center of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg University has around 5,000 students who, thanks to its rural location, would more often vote Republican if they cared about politics.
Which they mostly do not.
How do I know this? I am a political science professor at Shippensburg. Like my colleagues in our department, I teach two introductory classes each semester, where I get to listen to college kids from across the disciplines. Correspondingly, my understanding of Ship’s student body extends beyond the self-selected political junkies who major in our discipline.
The right wing complains about professorial indoctrination, while the left wing warns of perceived verbal aggressions. Most of my Intro students politely shrug and move along with their busy days.
In other words, the stereotypes of college students and their politics, supported by specific examples from certain schools, are not representative of Ship’s student body. Shippensburg University is a public regional college, and while we would love to bring in provocative and exciting speakers (against whom some of our students might protest), we simply do not have the funding to do so. We are lucky if we can cajole our alumni to return for campus talks with the promise of a “SHIP HAPPENS” tee shirt and a dinner with undergrads.
Shippensburg is not alone. Around the country, public regional universities and small regional private colleges are the universities most hard-hit by economic and financial problems. These schools are populated by faculty and staff constantly adapting to do more with less, as they try to keep up with the demands of their students, the administration, and the public. We don’t have time to indoctrinate kids; we’re too busy trying to find more paper for the copier.
The scenes of a protest gone wild on one college campus do not represent most of the schools out here. Lest you think that I am missing something, let me share some basic facts.
Around the country, 5 million students attend public regional schools, accounting for 47% of all college students. Pennsylvania has 129 four-year colleges, 49 of which are considered regional schools.
According to data from one study, regional universities are “important to their local communities – they’re economic drivers and provide access to higher education.” In other words: Don’t dismiss the regional universities. We can flex our muscles when the copier doesn’t jam.
Given all of this, it’s important to look at the politics of the modern American college student with clear eyes. Many of these students defy adults’ stereotypes. If anything, they’re working hard just to get through the college experience. They aren’t spoiling for a fight about Joe Biden or Donald Trump. They just want to understand why everyone is yelling at each other.
One education expert told me that these Covid generation students are fundamentally two years behind in academic, social, and developmental skills because of the pandemic. I know that my students are, for the most part, trying to understand a world that suddenly and inexplicably slipped out of their reach.
Moreover, I know that most students are being taught critical thinking skills from experts in their fields. These experts connect their students with opportunities that correspond to their interests and strive to generate a good return on their parents’ investment.
The bottom line: everything is more complicated than it seems. Today, there are nearly 20 million college students in the U.S., so lumping them all into one caricature seems unwise. Instead, we should think of students as young adults who are learning about the world. And they’re getting by like we all do: hanging out at Starbucks, procrastinating on their work, among other mundane daily activities.
Or maybe that’s just me.
