Reality 101

INTRODUCTION During my 15 years as Director of Career Services at Roger Williams University I learned that the two most panic-provoking questions I could ask a college senior are, "What are you going to do after graduation?" and "Do you know where you'll be on June 30, a month after you've left college?"I learned that those two questions usually evoked the same startled expression on the student's face: A look of sheer panic, which included smiling lips over clenched teeth, raised eyebrows, and a heightened color to the cheeks -- usually, deep red. Why? Why were seniors who were about to embark on an exciting adventure not excited by the prospect of graduating and pursuing a career for which they had spent a considerable amount of time preparing? What caused them to become immobilized and revert to a state of total denial about their imminent departure from the campus?At the same time each year, I became increasingly aware of a general avoidance of the Career Services office after the students returned from their winter break. Members of the senior class would chat with me and share stories and jokes if i happened to bump into them in the student union or cafeteria, but I noticed a definite slowdown of scheduled appointments to my office as graduation drew near. At a time when members of the senior class should have been caught up in the excitement of making plans for the next portion of their lives, they showed a decided lack of energy and enthusiasm.As I investigated this phenomenon, I learned that my colleagues at other colleges were noticing similar patterns of behavior in their senior students. While we in Career Services were seeing just a fraction of the senior class, the staff at the college's Counseling Center was being inundated with students seeking appointments for personal counseling. People seemed to be more irritable. The number of alcohol-related incidents on campus increased. Clearly, the issues the students were most concerned with went beyond finding that first job. Was it possible that this inertia they were experiencing was related to the process of making the transition from college to the real world? Were these fears and uncertainties at the core of their unusual behavior?After talking with a good many seniors it became clear to me that there were two distinct aspects to the problem. The first, and possibly the more intense was fear of the impending separation from the safe environment of the college. The other major cause of avoidance of any kind of planning was the students' imminent entry into a world of work about which they knew little. I learned that students became immobilized because they were gripped by an insecurity relating to the world outside the college walls. After all, this would be the first time in their lives that they would not be in school. Through the years, they'd been successful at studying and passing exams and now they would be without a prescribed curriculum for the first time in their lives. The rules for success in the world beyond the classroom were not the same...or were they? What, in fact, were the rules out there? Outside the safe environment of the college they would be faced with many choices for which there would be no right or wrong answers. Real life would not resemble a true-or-false exam for which they could study.From my own experience, I've learned that apprehensions about the unknown in our lives often lead to procrastination, avoidance, and indecisiveness. Many of us find our own unique methods to put off completing those tasks that overwhelm us or that we really don't enjoy doing. Years ago, while teaching a freshman seminar course, we talked about the art of procrastination. Everyone shared their favorite method of goofing off with the class. One student enjoyed color-coding every blouse that hung in her closet, and worked at that, instead of balancing her checkbook each month. Another alphabetized his cassette aKatzanek, Frances is the author of 'Reality 101' with ISBN 9780684873305 and ISBN 0684873303.