system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Ten No Bullshit Facts about College?

So I taught our department’s most basic, introductory-level course for the first time this semester and was a little blown away.  I have taught other lower level courses before, but they were mostly to sophomores, not to kids that were in their very first week of school.  I spent so much time explaining things that I thought were very fundamental “how to function in college” sorts of things, that when I teach the course again, I’m going to give a “Ten No Bullshit Facts about College” talk on the first day.  Things I plan to include:

“Why I don’t like to be called Miss”

“I judge you by your emails”

“It really is in the syllabus”

“Research: what my university actually cares about”

“Student Evals: How to use the power you have for good”


What other things would you include?  What shocks you that they don’t know?
gpt
A major reason why minority students (racially and first-gen students) have worse outcomes than average is because of the "hidden curriculum." There's all of this institutional knowledge that we expect our students to come in with, but don't recognize that they're never formally taught these things and that not all students have the same background.

The hidden curriculum ties into all sorts of things including how to speak to professors, where to seek help, where to find information, how to use (and access) online tools, what quality of work is expected in college, and how to interact with their classmates.

I think that teaching an introductory-level course gives you a wonderful platform to provide students with this information that they may not be getting elsewhere, but I'd recommend not approaching it in a sarcastic way that will alienate those students who don't know.