Like any student, college students always want the easiest way out and still attain a good grade. That was basically my experience in high school. Teachers just gave credit to assignments that seemed like the students put a lot of effort into it. I actually gave advice to underclassmen by encouraging them to do the work regardless if it is right. I would also receive credit for things that had nothing to do with materials learning in class. If I had a graduation speech I would really thank tissue boxes for increasing my grade and passing. In high school, I would slack off all the time and procrastinated everything. Teachers seemed like they did not care and did not encourage me to stop those bad habits. Unfortunately, today I still struggle with those habits and I felt unprepared to start college. After reading “Making the Grade” by Kurt Wiesenfel, I began to understand a lot about education and students. I agree with Wiesenfels’ article on how college students expect higher grades even when they know they do not deserve it, because they were taught to just do the bare minimum and they received good enough grades in previous academic levels.
Kurt Wiesenfel wrote this article for the Daily Beast and explains his personal story and explanation for college students demanding high grades from little effort. He begins the article with accounts of students begging for ways on how to improve their grade after being posted. He even explains how students still begged when they knew and admitted they do not deserve the grade they please. College students just aim for minimal effort; effort so low that they expect to pass by just showing up to class (Wiesenfel). He goes onto explaining how students rarely consider the opportunity to learn....
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... their immaturity and inability to do maximum work restricts them from attaining that grade. This implore for a better grade leads to unnecessary praise and lack of preparation. This could easily be preventable with preparation and tough encouragement from previous academic levels. Soon undergraduates will understand why they received the grade they attained and will not make the classroom a location to beg.
Works Cited
McCullough, David, Jr. “You Are Not Special Commencement Speech.” Wellesley Channel TV. YouTube. 7 June 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012
Wiesenfeld, Kurt. “Making the Grade.” The Daily Beast. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company, LLC. 17 June 1996. 27 Aug. 2013
Zaslow, Jeffrey. “The Most Praised Generation Goes to Work.” The Wall Street Journal 2007. Rpt. In American Mashup. Ed. Aaron Michael Morales. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2012. 550-556. Print
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Numerous college students today feel as if they are not adequate enough. So much is put on their plate, and above it all, in order to maintain moving forward academically towards a career, they must showcase themselves. This idea is explored in “College Pressures” by William Zinsser. He discusses why students are driven to try so vigorously in order to earn a step ahead, yet the reasoning is arguable.
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