Moms and Dads Should Visit College Classrooms

It’s one of the biggest dollar investments parents and students will ever make. Matching what you expect with what’s really out there makes only good sense.

      Parents should set aside some time to spontaneously “visit” college classes, but unannounced so that a staged or “fake” class won’t be substituted for the real one.  A small class might even be better than a big one.

     Schedules of Classes listing rooms and times are readily available.  Syllabi for each course can usually be found online, often showcasing daily activities.  I’ve never heard of a professor turning away a well-meaning parent.  Good faculty will always feel honored and be welcoming.   Similarly,  parents can sit-in on any class that their children are currently enrolled in–just to see if a respectful and valuable learning environment is being maintained.

      During my years as a student, I would often just attend a class that I wasn’t enrolled in,  simply to learn more about a subject I wanted to learn more about.  Sometimes there were Nobel Prize winners that I wanted to hear.  I never asked permission, just sat in the back.  In graduate school, I would sit-in on the the classes of faculty who had a reputation for being popular with students, just to hone my own teaching skills.