ABSTRACT

Challenging traditional notions about why successful high school graduates struggle in college, this book sheds light on the obstacles that hinder a seamless transition and provides clear guidance on how to overcome them.

Drawing from research and real-life stories of educators and students across a variety of institutions, Geddes illuminates a critical truth: it’s the successes students had in high school that work against them in college, not their failures. This book explores the hidden structural, functional, and cognitive traps that undermine students’ academic work, strain teacher-student relationships, and impose artificial limits on their potential. Armed with formulas for academic success, it provides tools for guiding students towards levels of high performance and supplies teaching methods for how to create an educational environment conducive to success.

Packed with practical advice, actionable steps, and inspiring success stories, this landmark book serves as an invaluable roadmap for college educators seeking to empower their students and revolutionize their institutions.

chapter 1|25 pages

Introduction

part Section I|60 pages

Structural Traps

chapter 2|30 pages

Workspace Trap

chapter 3|11 pages

Division of Labor Trap

chapter 4|7 pages

Locus of Learning Trap

part Section II|33 pages

Functional Traps

chapter 5|10 pages

The 80/20 Paradigm Trap

chapter 6|7 pages

Pedagogical Beliefs Trap

chapter 7|10 pages

The Power of Academic Vision

part Section III|48 pages

Cognitive Traps

chapter 8|15 pages

The Academic Myopia Trap

chapter 9|16 pages

Far Transfer Trap

chapter 10|11 pages

Pseudowork Cognitive Trap

chapter |4 pages

Epilogue