I’m going to take a moment to break with tradition (or at least, the tradition I’ve followed for the past few weeks) and not write about college myths. As I was browsing the TeenInk site today, I noticed TeenInk Raw, the unedited version of the regular website, and it got me thinking. I think it’s safe to assume that all students entering college wonder how it’s going to be different from high school. Of course, most people first think of the difficulty of classes and the big change in living situations. And yes, these are undoubtedly major differences. I’d like to discuss another one, though; something that I particularly noticed as being a difference between high school and college, and that is content.

As TeenInk Raw stands testament to, teenagers are brimming with ideas that cannot and should not always be edited for the general public or younger audiences. High school is edited. College is not. High school students certainly talked to each other about “unedited” subjects, like drugs and sex, and in an “unedited” vernacular language involving many of the words discussed by the late great George Carlin. However, a high school teacher would probably not talk to their students about unedited subjects in an unedited language. But a college professor would.

In a single year of college courses, I think every single one of my professors used “the F word” at least once, and one of my required reading book was called “The History of Shit” (an pretty interesting read, should you feel up to it.) My professors were also perfectly fine with discussing drugs or sex, including their students’ personal habits in both areas. As one professor put it “We’re all adults here.” He was right. In college, you are an adult, as are your professors, so the age difference doesn’t matter as much. In high school, I had many teachers whom I felt like I could speak with as equals. I respected them, they respected me, no problem. In which case, I never felt like there was a distinct student/teacher authority line that was shattered upon reaching college. No, nothing that dramatic. But the difference was still noticeable.

As always, words of wisdom: “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it should end there.” - Clare Booth Luce