Kerry Prather: Pandemic experience will lead students to small colleges

In mid-October, Franklin College celebrated homecoming. It was a glorious fall day, and our attendance was incredible. Proud Grizzlies came home from all over the country, partly to celebrate the occasion and partly to celebrate another step in the path back to normalcy. There were smiles and laughter, even handshakes and hugs.

COVID is certainly not behind us, but we have learned to manage the environment and still provide most of the student experiences that make small colleges like Franklin so special. The challenges of COVID management have been enormous, but Indiana’s small private colleges have stepped up and met those challenges—and succeeded in serving the needs of our students in person.

The residual effects of the COVID experience provide an encouraging argument for the future prosperity of small private colleges and the uniquely personal relationships that define them. In many respects, only small private colleges managed to preserve the essence of the traditional college experience safely and effectively during the height of the pandemic.

Our students were emphatic after the universal evacuation of campuses in the spring of 2020 that they wanted to return to campus and would comply with whatever restrictions we thought necessary to ensure that safe return. The students held true to their word, and we managed in-person instruction and co-curricular experiences safely. Our students and their parents felt reassured that a small campus could execute such a plan successfully, and we worked very hard to justify their confidence.

Academically, too, the COVID phenomenon appears to have heightened student interest in and appreciation for the small-college experience. The forced experiment in virtual teaching/learning suggests that tomorrow’s college students might be even more eager for a personal, engaged experience.

To be sure, both we and our students have learned ways in which technology can supplement the teaching/learning process. I am extremely proud of how efficiently our faculty transitioned to virtual delivery and how well our students adapted out of necessity. We will certainly retain the positive aspects of the virtual experiences, which can provide flexibility and convenience when necessary and be helpful for our students. However, the net result has been a resounding endorsement of in-person instruction and a renewed appreciation for the many co-curricular opportunities students can only experience on campus.

Some pundits predicted that the experience with virtual education would encourage future college students to permanently retreat to their laptops. Those prognostications appear not only to have been exaggerated but also to be counterintuitive.

Far too many high school students disengaged completely from the remote learning experience. Academic achievement plummeted for many of them in response to the impersonal ways they were forced to learn. That disengagement demonstrated how truly reliant a quality learning experience is on the close, personal interaction between teacher and student.

Parents forced into the role of surrogate teachers developed a renewed respect for the teaching profession. They not only recognized the skills required to be effective teachers, but also the critical difference quality, in-person instruction and mentoring make in the academic and social development of their children.

Thus, it may well be that the pandemic will actually provide a tailwind for small private colleges. I am encouraged by the renewed appreciation of our current students for the education they are receiving and by the enthusiasm of high school students who visit our campus.

As we progress beyond the various types of distancing that have become commonplace, students are taking a new and serious look at what they most value in their educational journey. I believe that reflection will lead an even greater number of them to seek the small classes, personal attention and lifelong relationships best fostered on the campuses of small, private institutions like Franklin College. We will welcome them with open, caring arms.•

__________

Prather is president of Franklin College.