Challenging Assumptions: ‘Contemporary Students,’ ‘Nontraditional Students,’ ‘Adult Learners,’ ‘Post-Traditional,’ ‘New Traditional’

The use of the “traditional”/”nontraditional” binary when referring to students in the context of higher education (especially in the United States) is so firmly established and compulsory that even when we try to challenge the dualism we often fall short. I believe that this has even happened in the current call for papers—while challenging the above binary another assumption about the larger system seems to creep in and that is one that overvalues the “traditional” four-year residential baccalaureate degree granting institution (we can argue even further about the further privileging of research institutions over liberal arts, etc. within this context). This manuscript is a critical examination of these ideas and considers how we might broaden the questions we ask when in conversation about the contemporary college student in our academic and nonacademic spaces.