By Nicole June | Perspectives Editor
Middle College: It’s something of an oxymoron in the eyes of most traditional college students.
What is Middle College, you ask? It is a dual enrollment program offered to local high school students in which they can take classes at APSU for both high school and college credit.
According to APSU’s middle college Web site, the mission of Middle College at APSU is to “engage students who find it difficult to connect or become engaged in traditional high school programs.”
These students are required to have completed their sophomore year of high school and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. They are even eligible for certain scholarships.
While this may seem to be an innocent addition to our fine university, it in fact has its own seedy underbelly. This mission statement does not mention these students are receiving the same privileges as full-time undergraduate students.
While sitting in a lower-level communications class, it came to my attention a Middle College student was in the class. This student seemed ready to embrace the college experience, prepared with a new patterned bookbag and freshly sharpened pencils. I am not the only one who noticed this student.
The professor of the class addressed the student, explaining she was very lucky to be in the class. Why, you ask? Several upperclassmen had been vying for the same spot in the class, which has limited availability, but were unable to get in.
However, little miss Middle College seemed to get in just fine. Is this an injustice? Should middle college students have priority over upperclassmen struggling to keep their heads above water and graduate?
Upperclassmen students should be permitted entrance into a class before Middle College students. Upperclassmen have more at stake and less time to meet their requirements than these mutated high school students.
APSU is growing larger and larger every semester. Each time we come back, the freshman class seems to be larger than the last.
Now we not only have to fight with freshmen for those coveted desks, but also with students who are not even of legal age. Where does the madness end?
That’s not to say Middle College students are not welcome at the Peay. Anyone who wants to take on such responsibility at a young age is admirable.
However, these students should be placed at the bottom of the list when an upperclassmen needs to take a certain course.
The next time you see a Middle College student gallavanting around campus, give them a pat on the back — and a warning glance.
Loading ...
September 10th, 2009 on 12:54 PM
Why would students not “struggling to keep their heads above water” be forced to wait for a seat? Perhaps those struggling so much should reconsider their course of study or perhaps a different direction for their life. Why would upperclassmen be in lower level courses to begin with? They should be past all those, and definate not have to struggle in them.
January 12th, 2011 on 2:15 PM
wat the crap!???!!! if the students who were struggling to keep their heads above water would actually do the work and manage to stay above water then the wouldn’t have to vie for the position. the middle college student was prepared to face the college world, but the actual college students aren’t? if they got the class, they could actually excell in it. it’s not a competition. Everyone should just try to do their best.
September 10th, 2009 on 5:44 PM
Middle College students are welcome at APSU. It’s counterproductive to create a negative culture at our university and encourage a “warning glance” to our fellow students. What is an upperclassman doing in a lower-level communications class anyway? There are so many sections for COMM 1010 and you’re worried about one student in the class? The Middle College website says 150 students are enrolled at a time and that they are assessed fees like everyone else. Potentially, that’s 300 seats in classes… yet there are probably over 7000 main campus students? Visit their website, it’s a great program: http://www.cmcss.net/Schools/schoolwebsites/faq.asp?locid=335.
September 14th, 2009 on 7:07 PM
So…because an upperclassman hasn’t fulfilled a lower level requirement, her/his needs come before everyone else’s?
Way to sound like a whiny 12 year old, college student.
September 14th, 2009 on 11:12 PM
Chris Drew said it all. And as a Middle College student, I find this a little far-fetched. One of our main goals is to assimilate with the traditional student body, many of us do not stick out like a sore thumb. The girl in this story is one of my friends, and she definitely didn’t have a patterned backpack and she jokingly informed me today that she had a mechanical pencil “not freshly sharpened pencils.” A serious journalist wouldn’t need to fabricate cute details to write a good story.
And should we really be insulted as “mutated high school students” just because we want to get a head start on college credit and because we see the logic and advantage of such a unique program?
I think not.
I could go on and on. But I’ll leave it at that…
September 15th, 2009 on 10:39 AM
Middle College students are at the bottom of everyone’s priority at Austin Peay. We are given the chance to enroll for college classes a full month after college students. If you are a senior in college and have not completed a required course, then it is your fault if you do not get a spot in it. Furthermore, if you procrastinate and attempt to enroll after your are given the chance, you do not deserve the spot. If you are not going to take the opportunities given to you seriously, then you don’t deserve them.
While you have to fight with barely over a 100 Middle College students for spots–after being given more than enough time to enroll–we have to fight over 10,000 college students. Most of us don’t even attempt to take a required college course because we know that the college students need them more than we do.
We are no one’s top priority here. We understand this, and we do not complain. The fact that college students are complaining about us is beyond me.
Sincerely,
A mutated high schooler.
September 15th, 2009 on 11:44 AM
I applaud all the responses, they are absolutely right.
September 15th, 2009 on 7:00 PM
First off, you’re facts are not straight. Middle college students do not have to have a 3.0, it’s a 2.7. Middle college is not just for “students who find it difficult to connect or become engaged in traditional high school programs”. I had no problem connecting or becoming engaged in traditional high school programs. I was on the varsity softball team, in Student Government, and had plenty of friends. I left high school to get away from people who think the way you do, but I guess I wasn’t very successful. I also agree with Chris Drew, it’s not my fault that upper-classmen are just now taking a lower level communications class. I also do not think that I deserve a warning glance because I want to get a head start on college, but a pat on the back would be lovely.
September 15th, 2009 on 11:03 PM
Wow! I am dismayed by the authors lack of factual base and maturity level. I infer that the “warning glance” spoken of in your article is symbolic of the threat you feel from these fine young men and women’s intelligence. Please, do not be intimidated, you CAN coexist with intelligent life forms. They won’t hurt you. Middle college takes up less than 1% of the population of APSU. I would think that there would be very little competition over classes. It would be my guess that the only upper-classmen who would be concerned over a lower level class would be those who aren’t taking their education seriously in the first place. Why condemn someone who is worthy of the college course? Being enrolled in middle college takes a self-motivated determination to succeed in life. Please, next time that you write an article, “do your homework” first so that you can write with conviction and authority to at least sound like you know what you are talking about instead of sounding whiny.
September 16th, 2009 on 12:11 AM
hi am a student in middle college. I would just like to say, ARE YOU KIDDING ME . first off we have to take prerequisites courses and there sould not be any upperclassmen in there. the resaon you have to wine about not getting in to the classes you need is because there is more than 10,000 students at apsu, not because of 120 high school students who desided to do something with there lives. secondly we do not have priority over every one else we are requiered to sign up for class when the regestery is first opened. we are also requiered to pass those classes with a b+ or better lets see those upperclassmen that are “struggling to keep their heads above water” do that. just FYI we can only take one-two college classes a semester. it just crossed my mined why would a upperclassmen be in a lower level anything.
September 23rd, 2009 on 4:43 PM
This article sounds like the whining of an immature middle school student, not a COLLEGE student! Here you are talking about THEM not being “of legal age,” and you’re using terms like “little miss Middle College” and “mutated high school students”?
I applaud all those high schoolers getting a head start on college; why should they be given a “warning glance”?!? And, if they score high enough, why should THEY give up their well-deserved seat for an upperclassman who is still enrolling in lower-level classes??
September 25th, 2009 on 9:13 AM
Wow really? Have we gotten this hard up for news that we are attacking achievement? First of all “GREAT JOB and KUDOS” to the Middle College Students for taking on the initiative to tackle a cirriculum above and beyond the normal high school track. Secondly, I applaud Middle College students for their bravery by placing themselves in a situation where the author is probably not the only short sighted person that thinks this way about them on this campus and third, I have a REALLY big issue with the professor of this class for placing this student on the spot the way they did. I mean if we’re going to start saying “Oh you’re lucky because of…” well then we may as well start saying “Well, you’re lucky to be here because your financial situation isn’t the greatest, but the government came through for you”, etc. We are all LUCKY and BLESSED to be in college PERIOD no matter how we got here. Middle College students, keep your heads up and keep excelling. It’s a good thing to have haters always after you, because that means you are doing your job correctly.
September 29th, 2009 on 11:39 AM
I gotta say i love that both sides defend themselves BUT in actuality I would side more with the college students. Honestly, maybe they could not get into a lower level class because of having to take other classes. Lets be honest, In the upper level classes, college students DO INDEED compete with others at that level for the same class placement. It happens all through college, its literally a competition to get into a class with others. If the middle college students want to be in college level classes, then I feel that they should pay the same as everyone else, per credit or per class. Can someone inform exactly what they are charged, with validity, to attend APSU? I am very curious about that.
a pondering college senior
September 30th, 2009 on 12:01 AM
They don’t pay a cent. I went to Middle College last year and am now in college. As a freshman, I had to pick a class MONTHS after the upperclassman, and have made my way (as others) into a bit of the upper-level classes. What I got to say is: suck it up. Your early registration WAS your higher-priority badge, not necessarily getting the classes you want.
Why should they have to pay? Shall we expand this further for people working on scholarships versus those who are rich? Shall we expand this to people who work hard and those who breeze through, regardless of how much money they put in? Shall we expand this to smart and the not-so-smart? Of course not, and we shouldn’t go on about Middle College versus regular college students. It’s not like most of them aren’t going be at APSU the next year.
And this Nicole is making inaccurate conclusions: just because someone was given a spot doesn’t mean he or she was given priority. The early bird wasn’t more important, just smarter.
September 30th, 2009 on 12:25 AM
Excuse me, I have looked up what Middle College students pay this year. They pay as much as part-time students, as evident by some article I found. Most also have the Hope Lottery scholarship.
October 7th, 2009 on 1:41 AM
This article really saddens me. I taught in CMCSS for two years, and had the privilege of knowing students and faculty at the Middle College. What the regular APSU students need to remember is that this is a collaboration, and actually makes APSU a more astute place to be.
Why spread division when you could be welcoming in these Middle College students, and building a culture of school spirit and unity? Comparing thousands of college students to just over one hundred high school students is not really sensible. Whatever problems regular students are having truly are not a result of Middle College students.
Regarding money, as a few people mentioned, not every regular APSU student is paying the same amount to be there, and some aren’t paying anything out of their own pocket at all. It’s a public institution there to serve students, and as was already said: everyone who is there is privileged and blessed.
Why resent these “newbies” (if you will)? Let me tell you, when you graduate college and enter the job field, you will be at the bottom all over again and maybe you will regret the way you treated these outstanding Middle College students.
To APSU students: Build unity, not division. Welcome in these high school students. They are going to, and already are, doing amazing things that will not only put APSU on the map, but add richness to its academic environment.
September 22nd, 2011 on 8:32 PM
Free konlwedge like this doesn’t just help, it promote democracy. Thank you.
October 29th, 2009 on 6:41 PM
Nicole,
I have known you since we were in third grade, and I must say that I agree with parts of your argument, but there are several holes in your argument as well.
First of all, as was stated above, Middle College students do register after regular main-campus students. Furthermore, as you know, upperclassmen have the right to register prior to other students, based on senioirity (class status), and if and when that student chose to get into a lowly COMM 1010 class, sadly, they are at fault for this.
Chris is correct, in my experience, that there are definitely adequate numbers of COMM 1010 classes, and it is my opinion that your COMM 1010 professor was not only sorely mistaken, but also, and this is what I feel that you missed, was trying to make the Middle College student feel more comfortable in the college-level classroom setting by introducing her to the other members of the class in special manner, such as the one that the professor employed.