Introduction
Some students are unaware as to what they should expect going into post-secondary education. The student may be right out of high school, were their teacher ‘held their hand’ the entire time, been out of school for a long period of time, or may even have dropped out of a previous program and trying something new. Post-secondary education isn’t like high school or working a full-time job, it is a lot of dedication and hard work. Pursuing in post-secondary education will improve your knowledge base in a particular area you have chosen to improve on and prepare you for success with your future career goal. Students are entering into college and university to further their education, with the expectations to graduate and pursue a career in their new field of study. Low test scores, however, are preventing this from becoming reality for some. As a student, we tend make more time to study rather than focussing on eating properly and consuming nutritious food. That is why many new students find that they gain 15 pounds during the first-year of school, referred to as freshman 15, also not do as well as expected in their studies when they first applied for the program.
Diets of individuals affect mental activities, such as school work. The brain feeds off of what we put into our bodies and allows for “dynamic, responsive, and efficient new connections [to] be made” in the brain (Norman). The neurons located inside the brain help “drive our thinking, learning, feeling, and states of being. Neurons requires good fats, proteins, complex carbohydrates, micronutrients- vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, and water…[which] are used to drive the learning functions of [the] neurons” (Norman). As a result, we are aiding ...
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Mann, D. “Expert Q&A: Avoiding the Freshman 15.” WebMD, 2008. 29 November 2013. .
Norman MD, MPH, P. “Feeding the Brain for Academic Success: How Nutrition and Hydration Boost Learning. Health Brain for Life.” Medical Physician and Professional Speaker on Brain Health, Nutrition and Aging, 2013. 23 November 2013. .
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Most students go through high school trying to just get to graduation day. They just want to pass all their classes, nothing higher. Only a small percentage of students in high school actually have the determination to excel and be above average on their own. Most people need someone to inspire them to excel. The essay "Tracking" by Mike Rose discusses how he needed someone to point out to him that he shouldn't be in Vocational classes. He put into a whole new different situation, and the classes could actually be a challenge for him. Being a mediocre student are apart of most students lives because they don't push themselves to be better.
Active kids who need more calories than the federal limits are also at risk, and may end up feeling weak, fatigued or nauseous during sports and exercise. According to a 2012 article written by registered dietitian Timi Gustafson, not getting enough essential nutrients at meals may lower kids’ IQ scores, memory capacities, fine motor skills, social skills and languages skills into early adulthood and beyond. A child’s poor dietary habits can even influence his sleep patterns, which may have an effect on cognitive behaviors and academic abilities. The results of a research review published in 2004 in the "British Journal of Nutrition," children who are micronutrient-deficient may exhibit more aggressiveness, less mental endurance and lower intelligence test scores. our school lunches are affecting our learning abilities and this is a problem that needs to be resolved
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.
Getting into college requires students to make an assured grade on a standardized test called the American College Test. High school students begin in kindergarten preparing for tests; to make it to the next level you have to score a certain score. Pressure is forced upon many students when they begin sophomore year and begin to ponder the thoughts of college and life after high school. Once they have planned out their school, major, and work life after college, the school counselor plans a meeting to discuss the ACT. Students begin to be worried and anxious about grades and tests; all of these stressed students do not realize they have been passing test after test to score a good enough grade to get into college, where they will begin to take test after test to graduate college and even after college, these students will still be tested within their workforce.
...brain and malnutrition. Therefore, one’s diet is not only crucial for the physical well being but also their mental.
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...
Education plays a dominant role in the lives of students throughout the United States. Since most students spend roughly eight to twelve hours in school, it is important to make sure that they are provided with a healthy and nutritious breakfast, lunch and snack. Unfortunately, in today’s society, school administrators focus heavily on standardized test scores and school rankings, thus adding more pressure on students and teachers. This being said, schools have begun to focus on providing healthy foods because they help increase a person’s cognitive and critical thinking ability. It is seen that nutrition plays a great role in students’ performance on exams and physical activity due to the correlation between school provided meals and low student performance on tests.
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 their career.
A statement from the Huffington Post states, “From a very young age, we are told the importance of getting good grades. Especially in high school, we are told time and time again that our grades affect what college we will get into. While grades are extremely important, people often forget about the importance of learning, not just getting good grades. There is a difference between the grade received in a course and the amount of learning that took place in the course.” Parents and institutions should teach the importance of learning. The society around the upbringing of students emphasizes getting good grades as apposed to getting every detail and aspect mastered. School priorities should be reevaluated and changed for future students
Turner, J. (2011). Your brain on food: A nutrient-rich diet can protect cognitive health. Generations, 35(2), 99-106.
The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between breakfast and undergraduate academic performance. This study conducted based on the previous research that only concerning on school students, but little research has been done on college students. Fifty two undergraduate students from International Islamic University Malaysia were responded to and completed a web- based survey. Questionnaires in the survey were adapted from Staub (2000). Participants had to rate their academic performance in a particular area such alertness, participation, attention, mood, taking note and the level of anxiety before test. The survey also asked the Cumulative Grade Point Average to find the correlation between breakfast and academic achievement of students. The results found that breakfast eater correlated with mood and note taking in the class and students who took breakfast more likely to have good rate in CGPA. SPSS have been used to analyze the result. The result suggested that, breakfast may be considered as healthy life style and it can be platform to help students in maintaining their learning strategies.
Scientists have recently discovered that there are many effects that food has on the brain.
Are the new standards and expectations the world has for teenagers really creating monsters? The amount of stress that is put on students these days between trying to balance school, homework, extra curricular activities, social lives, sleep and a healthy lifestyle is being considered as a health epidemic (Palmer, 2005). Students are obsessing over getting the grades that are expected of them to please those that push them, and in return, lose sleep and give up other aspects of their lives that are important to them such as time with friends and family as well as activities that they enjoy. The stress that they endure from the pressures of parents, teachers, colleges, and peers have many physical as well as mental effects on every student, some more harmful than others. The extreme pressure on students to get perfect grades so that they will be accepted into a college has diminished the concept of actually learning and has left the art of “finagling the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005). There are many ways that should be implemented in order to reduce the stress on students so that they can thrive because, withoutthem, the school systems will only be creating generations of stressed out, materialistic, and miseducated students (Palmer, 2005).
This study compared diets of 5,000 children in public schools and compared their performance on standard academic literacy tests. The data showed that students who ate poor, low-quality foods, high in sugars in fats performed worse on these standardized tests. Additionally, junk food can skew academic performance of students in schools by altering memory and learning abilities.
When we eat healthy food, we physically and mentally feel good. Good food habits and a balance diet aren’t developed in one day, nor they can be destroyed in one unbalanced meal. When we eat healthy food, we choose to have a healthier lifestyle. We choose to stay fit and fine. But, it doesn’t mean we will lose our ability to enjoy any other foods. Eating healthy food help us to gain so many things that will affect us for the rest of our life including a longer life, the ability to enjoy natural foods, and a sense of self-esteem. Not only that, but it also helps us to do better performance in the classroom, and it also make you feel and look best. But, if we choose to ignore healthy food and start having a poor diet then our life will eventually end up being in a great health problem. It will not only stop us from getting success in academic, but it can also lead us to a serious long-term illness, such as