English 50
The Challenge of Getting a College Education
Whether someone is returning to college or has just completed high school, there are many factors to consider. What is the goal? Is it a vocation or a technology? Perhaps a degree, there is an Associates of Art or an Associates of Science, or a Bachelor’s of Arts or Science. Or even a Doctorate. This is the first question. This is just the beginning. Next, students have to consider is what amount of time they are willing to commit to an education or career goal. An education for a vocation or technology is usually a 12-18 month program. An AA or AS will take approximately two years if one is able to attend full time and a Bachelor’s degree four years . Then there is a Master’s,
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Learning to learn again sounds a bit like excuses, but older students often have to learn or relearn basic concepts. As an older student I am keenly aware that having to relearn the basics. Some students have forgotten the rules of grammar, punctuation and math facts. Some of these skills may not have been used in a very long time. Not to say they can't do basic math, or English, but much has changed. Education has changed. We must learn a new style of teaching. Retrain ourselves to listen to lecture and overwhelming workloads. It has been 34 years since I graduated high school, I remember the basics math was simply it only required addition, subtraction, multiplication and fraction and we were done. A+ ( ) = B. I would have better luck learning to speak Greek. I have taken Restaurant math now that was a struggle, writing out formulas’, costing out food and other products. Much of what I know for portions and creating reciping I just know I can give the answer, showing the work in a word problem almost impossible. Then there is this whole essay writing skill I missed this completely in high school. That feeling of failure is disheartening, when I feel I made decent strides on an assignment, but it is a complete fail, and I did not receive a passing grade. Returning for more is a tough challenge when you feel defeated. In addition to learning everything all over there is the computer age. Computers are a huge challenge most professors require most all …show more content…
The challenges older students face can be much different than that of younger students, especially if they have children. Many older students are required to work as they may be the only adult working in the home or even a single parent. Older students who attend school have the responsibility of a family and children and these demands take considerable time, like getting children to school, home or sports activities. Preparing meals, helping with homework all these tasks take away from time students’ need to be studying. I am the mother of 6 children ranging from six to thirty one years of age, and I have three grandchildren. I often feel like I'm being pulled in all different directions at the same time. The greatest challenge is keeping the mindset that this is all possible and this anxiousness to will pass. Currently I have taken on a huge task; I currently have three courses over this summer. What this amounts to is I have three semester classes, which would be held over an entire semester, sixteen weeks. That has been compressed into summer courses. English and Child Development which are 8 weeks of compressed classes and my History class is a semester class compressed over just five weeks. As I move through math and history I see the same look on their faces, we are all struggling with the daily challenge of learning and relearning this class of 2014. I'm currently running in fumes,
I decided at that moment that I would return to school and graduate with my bachelor?s degree. I made a promise to myself that I would finish my education. If I complete my education, I would make my parents proud of me. Plus, I want to be the first person on either side of my family to attend graduate school. Adults return to college primarily because they desire a higher paying career or a professional job. This could be a registered nurse, an elementary school teacher, a policeman or an attorney. It could also be an accountant, a journalist, a librarian, an interior decorator or a beautician (Smith, 2001).
When students are in high school, is the end, they are finally free after 13 years of schooling, but for many people graduating from high school is just the beginning. After graduating from high school, students are faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to continue on with their education. And if they do decide to continue on with their education, what form of education will they choose. There are a variety of different options open to students each accompanied by their own pros and cons. These options include; no school, 4-year university, or 2-year community college.
Returning to College as an Adult Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life.
Going back to school at 30 is not the same as going back to school at 20, especially when you’re a single parent with an established career. Returning to school never left my mind throughout the years, I received my associates seven years ago and between then and now a lot had changed. So many questions I asked myself; do I have the time, who can help watch my daughter, can I juggle another load, etc. I answered every one of my questions; unfortunately I gave myself excuses instead. The decision going back to school was overwhelming because it was taking up another full time job; making it a priority and possibly putting in overtime to study and do homework.
(Durmer & Dinges 2005). The average college student is sleeping 6.7 hours during the weekdays and 7.4 hours on weekends. The standard person needs 7.5 and 8 hours per night, which means that students, specifically college and high school, are not receiving the necessary amount of sleep to function properly. Single adults with full-time jobs had greater difficulty falling asleep than those with significant others and without jobs. “An estimated 40 percent of American adults admit that their work suffers when they are sleepy.” In general, no matter the assignment, the cognitive performance becomes progressively worse as the assignment extends. This can be classified as the effect of fatigue when the brain can no longer process any information and has chosen to shut down from loss of sleep. Specifically, college students are reported as to be suffering more than other entities from working odd hours, long studying sessions, excessive eating & drinking habits as well as taking periodic naps whenever they can during the day. In order to earn the necessary grades to stay in college, students have to risk their health in order to finish the assignments
This report looks at college from the prospective of adults who have not attended college but are considering obtaining a degree. The research results give several statistics related to adults wishing to continue their education and the main concerns that they face in doing so. They mentioned many of the factors that influence adults’ decisions to pursue a post-secondary education and how they will pursue that education. Facts presented in this report show that many people wish that they could further their education. This report will allow me to broaden my viewpoint by not only viewing college’s worth to students recently graduated from high school but also to older adults seeking to return to college.
Many students are faced with decision once they are about to graduate from high school. That decision is, “Is a college degree really worth it and is going to college what’s best for me?”. Looking back when I was graduating high school this was a tough decision for me and one that I regret making. A lot of the time you are about to graduate high school and you don’t know what you are going to do with the rest of your life and that makes going to school that much harder of a choice.
Most students enter college at the age of 18 or 19. But it all depends if the individual goes away to college because when the s...
The college experience may differ for many different people, the reasons that people go to college will differ from person to person. One of my reasons for going back to college is to accomplish my goal. All my life I’ve wanted to go to college and eventually receive a veterinary license. After completing high school I started college and after three years I dropped out to become a wife and mother. For many years I felt that I would not be able to go back to school and complete my life long goal for many different reasons: money and time were the two main problems that I had to face if I wanted to go back to college. After many years I decided that I would never have more money or more time, so it was time for me to jus...
First of all, many high school graduates cannot handle college. Isabel V. Sawhill and Stephanie Owen describe college as a place, “one can obtain a traditional four-year bachelor’s degree”. The work load outside of the classroom could be compared to working a full time job. For example, if a student is enrolled in four college courses and is in class a minimum of four hours the student should spend at least four to six hours of studying. This may be extremely agitating and stressful to a student that is not good at studying. The new college student may realize that the schoolwork is too much for him to handle and instead drop out. In Pharinet’s blog post, Is College for Everyone? He states that “…it is estimated that in the U.S., approximately 50% of students who begin college never graduate. There exist students who are not yet ready for the academic and financial challenges of college. There exist students who do not have the desire for college or learning.” This statement is important because if 50% of students that begin college never gradua...
After twelve years of school, where will you go next? Many of you have developed the ambition to prolong your education and attend college. Today, there are many more options than there were in the past. One does not have to graduate high school and go straight to a four year university. It is sometimes better for a student to go to a community college and focus on transfer courses or simply get an Associate’s Degree. On the other hand, there are young adults that prefer to leap straight into a university and focus on the specific program for their Bachelor’s Degree.
"I didn’t feel [stressed] until I was in my 30’s. It hurts my feelings that my daughter feels that way at eleven" (Ratnesar 313). This statement describes the intense issue facing the American Education System today. More and more students are spending a lot of out of school time on enormous amounts of homework. The overabundance of homework is putting pressure on the students, along with their parents. Our nation has steadily focused on after school studying to the point of possible exhaustion. In this paper, I will attempt to explain how educators are relying on homework as the major form of education, and how the amounts are too demanding on the students.
America is a country where everyone is free to live however they like, but it is possible for some people to live a happy life, if no one is around to take care of them. Nearly three hundred million people reside in the America, and out of those three hundred million populations, senior citizens make a 12 percent of the entire population. A senior citizen is commonly known as a person who is over the age of 65 and living on retirement, or known as social security benefits (Census Bureau). Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt implied the act of Social Security in 1935, seniors are regularly provided a financial help, but seniors, along with financial help, seeks also accompany of someone who can look after them. Because of constantly growing needs of senior citizens, government as well as many non-profit organizations is working on helping seniors. Therefore I decided to research on this particular issue in my community, and I found that 64.5% of seniors are living alone in metropolitan area of Atlanta.
When someone is younger they look forward to the milestones in their life in which they hope to see. A couple of them will be the beginning High school and then College. Those two events are two different jumps most people will take in their life. At first the student may begin to become intimidated by the fact they will be entering college. When a students begins their high school career they will immediately begin to start looking forward to college, and the freedoms in which it brings. Once the student graduates and starts their college career they realize there are a lot of things in college that high schools have in common, as well as many differences in which they did not expect.
College is a great experience where no all high school students get the chance to live the feeling of a college student before their graduation. High school might be great for these teenagers, but college is even greater. College can offer them a lot more experience than they get while in high school. Becoming a college student and having a professional education is more than important for new generations. The importance of having an associate degree, a doctoral degree, and a master degree symbolize a successful person. Becoming an educated person with any degrees will make that person’s life as simple as attending to school and getting the best out from it. Now, high school students should attend to college before or after they graduate to