Donovan Rayleonard 3/29/2024 Petriana Monize ENG101 Analytical Essay. The Multitude of Problems Students Face in Today’s Education System. For a nation that relies so heavily on the reputation of its academics, the United States struggles to keep up this image among the students and teachers of today. With millions of students partaking in rigorous and stressful methods to simply get into a top college or university, the nation fails to recognize the harsh, dangerous impact it leaves on them. As those students get piled up with more tests and studying, their motivation ultimately falls, creating an environment in which the education system is no longer about learning, but purely results. Due to such academic pressure being shown to be real …show more content…
He argues that sending students who are unprepared for the difficult education, who are most likely driven by societal pressures and misconceptions of the success college may bring, is the wrong approach, and ultimately causes many negative consequences for the students. For instance, he identifies one of the most prominent issues of college being the tuition, stating “the financial costs, let alone the emotional toll of the young people involved, is scandalous” (Reeves; Paragraph 4). Students who are unprepared for college often end up paying for typically high tuition just to either cost their institution millions of dollars for remedial education or drop out without gaining any money back. For instance, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about one-third of freshmen do not return to the institution for a second year, implying a high rate of dropping out. On the other side, for students who relentlessly study to be admitted to schools, there is a chance of receiving merit aid–money granted by academic institutions for students who have good grades or test scores. As a result, our education system has created a culture in which students study purely for acceptance and merit-aid at colleges/universities rather than for the knowledge they …show more content…
In Reeves’ essay, he argues that for students to be prepared for the difficulty spike in college, there should be reform in high school education. He states how the ACT’s chief executive “urges better high school preparation” because only “four in ten scored well enough on the test to suggest that they could earn at least a C in a college-level math course” (Reeves Paragraph 3). If only forty percent of ACT takers could achieve an estimated C in a college course, our education system must take action on this. In doing so, all students will be on the same level, creating an equal playing field in college classes. Furthermore, this reform will allow students to pursue more difficult fields of study, STEM or not, without feeling academically behind their peers. In addition to reform, Reeves also suggests having a higher emphasis on rigorous education throughout high school. He argues how “Anti-intellectualism is the Great Enemy of the educator, and with a classroom full of people who do not read, study, or think, academic standards inevitably suffer” (Reeves Paragraph 5). Promoting higher-level courses such as Honors, AP, or IB courses to students would be beneficial as it would prepare students for college education through difficult coursework, but also teach them how to study and behave in post-secondary classes. Whether it be the high costs of college education or
In the essay, “We Send Too Many Students To College” by Marty Nemko, he argues that, contrary to popular belief, college is not for everybody. Nemko states that colleges accept numerous high school graduates every year, when they know that if the student did not do well in high school, they have a very low chance of actually acquiring a degree. However, If someone is fortunate enough to graduate from college and obtained a degree that costed them an exceptional amount of money, it is likely that they will have to settle for a job they could have “landed as a high school dropout”. Colleges are just out for money, and the only way they can get money is by accepting countless students into their “business”, whether the student will prosper from it or not is a different story. The article reports that there is no proof that students actually learn and remember everything they get taught during their college education. In fact, some college seniors failed tests that should be easily and accurately completed, and instead of these institutions getting penalized perhaps, they are “rewarded
In his essay, "Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s,” Staples claims that student grades are increasing for the wrong reasons, causing college degrees to become meaningless. Staples provides evidence that average grades have increased significantly over the last several decades, but claims that it is not because students are working harder. The real explanation for grade inflation, he argues, is the effect of grades on both students and their professors. Teachers give more A’s to receive better evaluations and increase job security. Students give more importance to their grades as a result of the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. Staples argues that modern
Bruni begins by describing the golden promise of college as it appeared for baby boomers. In that time getting into college and completing a degree was enough to be successful. He acknowledges that this idealized vision of college may be inaccurate, however, he asserts that the issue is far more “complicated” than it once was. Bruni makes use of a recent (2012) debate over student loan interest rates in the U.S. to explore the issues surrounding college education today. While rising student debt is certainly part of the problem he suggests that the issue extends beyond that. College is now a “luxury item with newly uncertain returns” (Bruni). While rising costs make college a luxury item that not everyone will be able to afford, even those who can and do manage to go to college are not guaranteed success.
In the article “College is Not a Commodity. Stop treating it like one,” Hunter Rawlings explains how people today believe that college is a commodity, but he argues that it’s the student’s efforts; which gives value to their education. Rawlings states that in recent years college has been looked at in economic terms, lowering its worth to something people must have instead of earn. As a professor Rawlings has learned that the quality of education has nothing to do with the school or the curriculum, but rather the student’s efforts and work ethic. Rawlings explains the idea that the student is in charge of the success of his or her own education, and the professor or school isn’t the main reason why a student performs poorly in a class. Rawlings
Education has always been a current issue due to the fact that it is seen as an economic cure-all. However, the perception of college is ill-conceived and there are multiple debates on how to improve it. College universities believe that having open admissions will increase the amount of matriculations, but the fact is the amount of students being enrolled into a four-year university has no relationship to the amount of students with academic aspirations. W.J. Reeves, an English professor at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, gives a few examples of how open admissions has changed education methods and student abilities. Reeves wrote this opinion piece to convince everyone, especially parents, that schools are in need of reform
Tough depicts the college conundrum as a prevalent matter in America’s higher education system, and investigates the cause of this national phenomenon. He describes the college conundrum when he states, “Why are so many American students dropping out of college just as a college degree has become so valuable and just as young people in the rest of the world have begun to graduate in such remarkable numbers?” (Tough 150). He illustrates the disturbing trend of an exponential growth in college dropouts rates in America, even when a bachelor’s degree is seen as a valuable asset, and graduation rates in other countries have considerably risen in comparison. Subsequently, Tough sought to uncover the root causes for this complication. As a result,
Education” by Russell Baker, the author argued that many student futures are based off of a test score - whether that test is a state-regulated test or a test required for admission to college. Society measures what we learn by tests and schools receive more funding for better scores. Baker explained that many students base their intelligence on these test scores, and many institutions focus on test scores more than anything else. However, every student learns that their education and their future is based off of the score that they receive on tests. Baker said that this is “[a period that a child] learns that success come from telling testers what they want to hear” (225). Teachers don’t teach the content but teach students how to make educational guesses. I considered myself to be “dumb” because I did not get a satisfactory score on the ACT. Therefore, I didn’t think I would be a good candidate for college because I would not receive personal funding in the form of scholarships and I didn’t know whether or not I would be accepted into college. This score convinced me that I would not be able to complete college work and that I would only have a future working minimum wage jobs. However, I realized that I was smarter than my test score told me that I was. In the end, the author and I both agreed that students should not be subjugated by the scores provided by an invisible
We blame and label professors, parents, and peers as ‘villains,’ when there are no “villains only victims (465).” Students have now become self-destructive, perfect seeking freaks. There is now this extra emphasis on looking better and being what everyone wants. A student’s “transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security (464).” The security referenced before is the need to have a good paying job and money to spend. Student’s stress that grades have become a marking of what kind of person they are such as, “A is for admirable, and B is for border line (465).” Through the use of metaphors, Zinsser shows that students are so obsessed with being the best that they aren’t thinking about other possibilities and are so driven to succeed following their single-minded
In her article “College Is a Waste of Time and Money”, Caroline Bird attempts to pursued her readers that colleges are overflowing with students who don’t belong there. Her article first appeared in Psychology Today (May 1975). Since this material is outdated, I find it hard to believe that most of the responses by students and parents quoted in the article still hold true. The author has set out to pursue the readers that college is a bad and unnecessary choice for today’s youth. Yet the author holds a bachelors and a masters degree from two different universities. I would think that if she thought college was really a bad choice and a waste of time and money, she would not have gone back to get her masters degree.
A young girl is excited about graduating high school and attending her first year at college. She tries hard at school and receives above-average grades. She is an active student involved in student council, band, the drama team, and peer tutoring, but her ACT scores are extremely low, disqualifying her from many universities. The young girl represents many students who are not successful at taking standardized tests because they have not developed the advanced skills required to take a test like the ACT or SAT. An academically motivated and responsible student should not be prevented from attending college because a "standard" test is not his or her standard. The current methods of testing for the ACT or SAT should be abolished and replaced with modified and less "standard" questions to better measure a student's learning potential. In addition to different testing techniques, a student's learning potential should be a measure of a culmination of activities and methods; testing should be less important than other methods in determining a student's learning potential, if not the least important. Standardized testing must evolve to encompass a more diverse student population, and it should not be the primary factor in measuring learning potential.
Studying a university degree is one of the biggest achievements of many individuals around the world. But, according to Mark Edmunson, a diploma in America does not mean necessarily studying and working hard. Getting a diploma in the United States implies managing with external factors that go in the opposite direction with the real purpose of education. The welcome speech that most of us listen to when we started college, is the initial prank used by the author to state the American education system is not converging in a well-shaped society. Relating events in a sarcastic way is the tone that the author uses to explain many of his arguments. Mark Edmunson uses emotional appeals to deliver an essay to the people that have attended College any time in their life or those who have been involved with the American education system.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
The article’’ The Reason College Cost More Than You Think’’ by Jon Marcus, informs students that there are a lot of financial responsibilities to come from being a college student.
Pressures on children in today’s society are a problem that is becoming more evident in academics as parents and teachers put more and more emphasis on these children to outperform their classmates, stress in the child’s life becomes an interfering problem (Anxiety.org, 2011 Weissbourd, 2011,). From preschool children to college adults, pressure to execute academic perfection extends across all areas of curriculum. In our highly competitive, American society, emphasis placed on academic achievement has never been so intense (Anxiety.org, 2011, Beilock, 2011). This need to be the best, fueled by our culture in America, has created a social force affecting education, a force to be reckoned with at that. Too often, parents and teachers sacrifice their chil...
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 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 has 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 “financing the system” in order to succeed in its place (Palmer, 2005).