The purpose of a high school education is to prepare one for college and ultimately, the workforce. By the end of freshman year, in high school, the average student has learned a sufficient amount of material in enough subjects , that he or she can be considered "well-rounded" in his or her studies. This is because the rate at which material is covered in schools, across the nation has increased dramatically compared to the past. Students now learn more advanced curriculum at a younger age, and this continues to become more evident year after year. High school has now become more focused on teaching students a small amount of information on several essential subjects, rather than having them focus deeply on the subjects they seek to pursue in career. Unfortunately, this shift in focus has caused the overall high school experience to stray away from its intended purpose. If students are not prepared for their career, what purpose does a high school education have? If High Schools inserted more elective course opportunities into their standard set of curriculum, it would further prepare students for the career of their choice, allow them to truly master a subject, build their confidence, and refine their talents so that they may grow and succeed their future occupations.
Schools currently have a required curriculum, that limits a student's personal choice, by forcing him or her to take classes that are not suited to their aspirations. Typically, the standard material for most schools consists of mainly the "core" classes, like English, math, and science. Yes, it is essential to know and understand these classes to a standard level, however, these so-called "standards" have become more pressing by the year. In order to grad...
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...boost confidence and esteem in students, which would in turn boost test scores as well.
In conclusion, the core curriculum is vital to life of any student, yet with more personal choice and freedom, the high school environment can be strengthened and improved . Having a more balanced high school curriculum, with more options for the students, would also allow students to narrow their focus on a particular field or subject, while preparing them for their major in college. It would even boost the confidence of the student body, and therefore boost the Test scores as well. In addition, students who have trouble recognizing their talents, might be able to have a more fulfilling high school experience. The purpose of school is to prepare one for the future and ones occupation; it is certain, that having a more elective-based high school program would do just that.
...ed to do in order to complete or achieve greater grade standards. Students are more focused in the classrooms. Students would be able to plan study time and absorb what they are learning. By alleviating perturbation, students would be capable of relaxing and resting at bedtime preparing them for a productive day ahead.
Changing the high school program back to five years will help students with their grades and course selection. This extra year for secondary education provides them with extended time to focus on the courses heir high schools provide them with and courses they have taken. Students who may not have performed to the best of their abilities In a course the previous year/semester will have the opportunity to retake a class get additional assistance from teachers to improve their mark averages. For instance, a student who has completed their Calculus and Vect...
...of the basic purposes of education: career preparation." I don’t agree with this at all. I think that college should really be a little of both. Obviously you go to college to get a degree, which starts you in a career, so that’s the career preparation part of it. But, there’s also so much more to college that helps you with later in life.
Society pushes today's youth towards higher education. The goal of grade school is to prepare the students for middle school. The goal of middle school is to prepare the students for high school. And finally the goal of high school is to prepare the students for college. The entire structure of education is to prepare youth for the next level of education. The problem with this system is that not all students are college material, as seen in the essay The Case Against College by Caroline Bird.
...tle to no time for teachers to help students one on one. Then by taking away from adolescents exposed to bad influences, they can concentrate more on that essay for English or the lab in Chemistry.
So as to improve the K-12 education, the United States needs to redesign the high schools. The initiative by the president to redesign the high schools is significant in encouraging the schools to use the available resources. Schools together with their partners should take into using the resources that exist effectively. These resources are in the local, state and the federal so as to transform the experience in the high schools for the youth through energy of the whole school redesign. This effort of redesigning the high schools will help challenge them and their partners in rethinking learning and teaching. These reforms should constitute of learning that is personalized and college and career exploration that will ens...
General education classes are focused on expanding the intellectual horizon of students. Many of the classes for general education don’t have anything to do with specific career choices but are required regardless. While this seems to be nice and good on the surface, it has problems. If colleges only cared about letting students expand their horizons instead of helping people graduate in a timely manner, there would be many more “college surfers”. Those people go to college aimlessly in order to pass the time. They do not have a definite goal and are not able to get a degree in order to graduate and contribute as a member of society. This would mean that taxpayers are wasting millions of dollars for nothing. Although it is important to keep learning as you grow older, there also needs to be a bigger purpose to life than just class cruising. Also, as stated before, if college was for everyone to learn and grow and there wasn’t a focus on grades then the college degree would have no
They can either choose a major they are already proficient in, want to learn more about or go undecided and choose in the future. In addition to basic subjects such as math, science and English, students take classes within their choice of study in order to obtain a degree. In high school, students are obliged to take electives as well as the basic subjects to get a diploma. As of schedules, college classes can be as long as three hours while high school classes are usually less than one. Also, high school students have approximately three minutes in between classes, are required to meet five days a week and have about eight hour school days as opposed to college where it can be hours between classes, meet more or less than five times a week and school hours can vary from day to
In conclusion, college is a huge milestone in a person 's life. What they do with their time and money during those years can be crucial to what they get out of it. General education classes should not be a requirement because they have already been taught a majority of the curriculum in high school, some of the classes can have nothing to do with your major, and it can be a waste of money by spending it on classes that they are not interested in. By making it a requirement to take general classes, you are taking away time that they could be devoting to their interests and major. College should be a time where you focus on learning what you are gonna do for the rest of your life, not trying to learn every possible subject that a school can offer.
Secondly, college is where a person goes to discover him/herself. This is one of the many goals of the college system, and that discovery process is hindered by unneeded, mandatory classes. Students should be able to try many different classes to discover what interests them the most, not to be fed knowledge that they very well might know already (and is perhaps of no interest to them). If required courses were eliminated, it would free up much time that students could then use to pursue their own interests. College exists to help people become unique individuals, not to put every person into the same standard mold.
Throughout the world, students are encouraged to attend high school and continue their education. However, many students find it worthless and become uninspired. They blame the faculty, school policies, and fellow students, when they should be blaming themselves. Unchallenging course work is most likely a sign that the student isn’t taking a hard enough course. During my high school experience, students had the opportunity to take college courses through our high school. This gave the more advanced students a chance to practice the same routine as “normal” students, but still challenge and educate themselves. Abolishing high school would not solve any problems in our educational system. There are many ways to improve upon our school system; however, we need to start at the beginning.
Many students graduate from high school not knowing what career or job they would like to pursue in the future. Though many graduates have been told that, in order to be successful in present day society, they need to go to college. High school graduates have several opportunities other than the traditional 4 year college which includes two year community college, online classes, apprenticeship, military, job, trade school and starting a business.
Unlike generations from the past, high school graduates today are not able to acquire the number of high-paying jobs that were once available. The United States has been transformed from a manufacturing-based economy to an economy based on knowledge, thus making the importance of a college education today, comparable to that of a high school education forty or fifty years ago. Going to college serves as the passageway to more options and more
School plays an important role in our lives. Many people will spend more than fifteen years at school in order to get the qualifications that are required to work in a specific field. Those years are broken down into several levels, some of them being more enjoyable than others. Two very important levels that people go through are high school and college. Even though some think that these levels are almost the same, there are significant differences between them. The cost of high school is not the same as the cost of college. Also, some differences apply from an academic point of view. Typically, the social environment also differs from high school to college, which can be related to the question of freedom versus responsibility.
...away from the ACT or SAT and focusing on other skills like social interaction. Although it is important for students to get a good education, it is imperative that all students are given the skills, the opportunity, and equality to obtain that good education.