I have heard the phrase, “It’s not harder work, it’s different work” too many times to count.
Throughout orientation, accepted student days, and even during the Honors Retreat, I would hear these words numerous times. Each time this phrase was said, I believed it less and less, thinking that the students and professors were required to say things such as this. However, upon completing my first honors course, Honors Introduction to Biology, I finally realized that this statement of honors work being different was actually true.
Working through this course, and speaking with students about their non-honors courses, I discovered that the main differences were not in the amount of work or the difficulty of work even. Rather, I discovered the differences between the courses were the type of work that was assigned and what was discussed during class. In the honors courses, papers were more frequently assigned than periodical quizzes, and there was often much more discussion in class. These changes truly reflect the phrase that is constantly recited to new students.
Having only taken a few honors courses, I have discovered myself telling prospective students that the work in the honors college “isn’t harder, it’s just different.”