One of the most common complaints that I hear from students is about the amount of work they are assigned. No matter what, it is always too much. Despite what students may think, teachers worry about this issue often. We must constantly ask ourselves if we are assigning too much work, and better yet, if the work we assign is valid. Teachers realize that students have a personal life outside of the classroom but they also have first hand knowledge of what their students will encounter after they enter the "real world." Preparing students for this "real world" is the most important balancing act in education.
Currently, the numbers show that high school educators are not doing all they should to prepare students for post-secondary education (college, vocational school, etc.). In 2007 only 53% of students in the top Florida public universities graduated after six years. This means that the other 47% were unable to make it through the typical 4-5 years in college. Although the causes for this high dropout rate are varied, one can assume that a primary reason students dropped out is because they just could not handle it. Is this because their high school education was poor? Is this because they were unable to properly manage their time? Is it because college was just too hard?
The answer to all of these questions is a resounding YES, at least for some of the drop outs. And, as long as this is the answer, educators need to improve the quality of the education that they are providing. But, the proverbial "buck" does not stop with the educators. Students need to take control of their education and realize that hard work, dedication, and motivation are required in the edification of an educated individual.
I would never like to see any of my students go off to college and then drop out, but the current numbers tell me that this may be a reality for some of them. What can students do now, while they are still in high school, to avoid dropping out of college?
21 comments:
I do believe that students have a lot of stress on them do to school. But if schools are not doing their best then why are students still dropping out? Is it the students or the way the teachers are teaching? We don't have the right to blame either or. I believe that the teachers should expect higher expectations from us in projects and homework. Think about the students in other countries. In some they only get Sunday off. They have school from Monday to Saturday. Look at their grades, better than ours. Are we just to lazy, or are we a stressed out environment.
Students don't only have school to stress out about, but we also have our personal lives too. Relationships outside of school, that most cannot Handel by our self. So who are we to blame the teachers or the students? We have no answer why so many students drop out. But they all lead us back to stress and students can't Handel the pressure. But what do we do to prevent this? Do teacher send less homework to students? Or does the government put less days of school? If we do that, our education will become worst and giving us bad reputation so fewer students will study here. We need to focus and try to stop this from happening. It is happening to fast and it needs to stop. We need more students to stay in school but also do well in school.
I think it's more the parents fault for not raising their children in an environment where they work hard.In other countries where children are highly disciplined on matters of education their students have a higher success rate."Despite the global economic downturn, a reported 68% of China’s more than six million newly minted college grads have already managed to find employment, according to an announcement by China’s Ministry of Education on Wednesday".Without a proper education and discipline they wouldnt find jobs so easily would they?
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2009/07/09/
two-thirds-of-recent-chinese-college-grads-already-employed
/tab/article/
Well, to answer your last question, students can try their best to learn proper study techniques so they can organize their time and understand the material presented with little or no effort.
Did I blog this response correctly? I have never done this before.
First off, students can man up and get over doing work. I agree with your statement about students complaining over every bit of work. I have witnessed whole classrooms of students whining over 10 math problems and through the duration of their whining I had completed the homework and moved on to other things. Although, I have also seen teachers give too much work to the point where it's a hassle and it becomes incredibly discouraging. Most cases, though, students are just being complainers, unfortunately.
Students can also start studying the basics of the college courses they are going to take (i.e. the basics usually given by your teachers). There are plenty of other things you can do to prepare as well. For example, I can easily see stress from the lack of balance in my college life getting to me and potentially becoming a problem, so in order to try and prepare I might create a mock situation by getting a job and balancing my school work, college essays, a job, and the school that comes with the work.
I think that more teachers need to stress the importance of college and the skills you will need to succeed. I’ve had some teachers who never even talked about college. It would have been nice to hear about what they learned and experienced, and been given tips about what college life would be like.
I also agree with what you have said about students taking control of their education. I think that students need to practice time management, work hard, and strive for the best while still in high school. Students should also get other people’s opinions and experiences about how they did in college to help them better prepare for it.
Mrs. Stoklosa, I agree students should stop complaining about the amount of work they are given! I never complain, I actually "MAKE" time in my daily routine to finish all the work that I have for school. I actually have dance, AMT, pride's fashion show and horseback riding to do during the whole week. Sometimes I have all in one day! It's a matter of organizing and focusing daily to my top priorities.
College is something that stresses everyone out, students have a hard time trying to handle and manage their time. I think that more teachers need to stress the importance of college and the skills you will need to succeed. I think it's great that we have discussions in class about colleges, SAT, ACT, jobs.
The percentage of drop outs is the effect of people not being able to handle the stresses. I wish that I had someones advise me on what I should do during highschool, because I regret some class decisions, and some harder classes.
I do think students high school education also affects the large percentage of drop out rates. When you get into college its a big wake up call and some people can't adjust! High schools need to boost up their curriculum to get students ready.
I also agree with what you have said about students taking control of their education. I think that students need to practice time management, work hard, and strive for the best while still in high school. You can start getting prepared for college while being a well-rounded student, this includes doing school work, while managing a job, while doing a sport or something to keep you busy.
It is true that, sometimes, the teachers send a ton of homework to the students but is actually not that much, but is just that in all four classes the teachers give homework and ends up being a lot. I t is reasonable that they send us homework but sometimes it's just too much.
The "real world" is filled with challenges and yes, teachers are trying to prepare us for that. I am sure that none of the teachers want their students to drop out, at any point, of college. I understand that it'd be really disappointing to them but for some reason, sadly, students do drop out. Some drop out because they need more time for work just because they decided to go crazy and have kids "accidentally" or simply college is too expensive, but, whatever the reason is, is will be disappointing and not only for the teacher but for their parents and families too.
It always comes down to the will on a student but i definitely believe that high school public education doesn't offer what a college prep school does. I attended Archbishop McCarthy last year so i see positives on private school and their approach to preparing the student for the real world. I also have to agree with you Mrs.Stoklosa you teachers do not give an overload of work. First of all since i have been at Cypress Bay we have not had any individual or even class groups to the guidance counselor to speak about college and what we need to do in order to get prepared. Second, a few of teachers told me i cannot type assignments because i may be cheating from online websites. Are we kidding here, I'm going to college in two years and I can't even type an assignment!? What by any means is this going to happen in the real world. The most disappointing factor about public school was how lenient they are on rules. Most teachers don't seem to mind if students are late or if students talk in class. Although this is only half of the factor of whether the student is ready for college i believe that if our system was more effective the dropout rates would be a lot lower.
You say that teachers also worry about giving too much work, yet you are one of my only teachers that seems to have a grasp of the fact that students have lives outside of school.
In the second paragraph you go on to talk about how High School education is poor, how students are unable to manage their time and also because college was just too hard. I have a question directed towards your statement of teachers need to improve their quality of education. My question to you is does this increase in quality necessarily come at an increase in quantity of homework? As a student I understand the necessity of homework and I understand the material better, but one thing I hate more than anything is when teachers give busy work. I can understand doing work as long as it is pertinent to what we are learning and as long as it isn't overkill.
I think that students that are currently in High School right now should be subjected to a higher level of responsibility so that they can be closer to what is expected in college. Another, somewhat farfetched, is that High School students have a higher level of responsiblity so that it is easier for them once they go to college.
I agree that many people complain about how much work they get and are used to getting their way. If enough people complain, the teacher sometimes feels obligated to lessen the work load. I believe that a good teacher should stick to their lesson plans and not let complaining change their minds. High school should not be the only way for students to learn, students should want to learn on their own and put in extra time outside of school. There is always time to complete ones work, but a problem many students have is procrastination. Being taught responsibility is just as important as being taught a subject such as history. If students become more responsible and more motivated, I believe the dropout rate will lessen.
Students need to be more self-motivated to help prepare themselves for the future. Students who push themselves and set goals will more likely do better. If a student comes across a challenge, they should not give up. Giving up on something simple will let them know that its okay to give up and take the easy way out.
Students will be less likely to drop out if they have positive reinforcement. Yes, stress can interfere with a students motivation but they must overcome that obstacle considering there will be more in life to come.
I believe that the current dropout rating that is being experienced at colleges is due to the fact that students are just not fully committed to their studies. The culture that Americans are subjected to is not one that puts overachievement and education as a first priority, unlike other countries, and that is why foreign students are achieving so much more than American students. Education is the basis for a nation's success, and perhaps it is thanks to the way that students are educated or the way that they approach education that the U.S. is lagging behind as an international power, in terms of an academic base of course (colleges and universities not included). The only way to solve this issue is to change the mindset of American students and foment an environment that is completely dedicated to academic advancement and rewards it, like so many foreign countries do.
Whether teachers assigned a lot of homework or not, it's a very controversial topic, because usually we find most teachers to be in the extremes of the spectrum. Some teachers are obsessed with given out homework which sometimes can be just plain busy work. They tend to believe that we are only focused on their class, so they fail to realize that we also get homework from other classes; consequently, students end up having immense amounts of work, so they just do their homework to get it out of the way instead of actually putting their greatest effort.
On the other hand, teachers that don't distribute any homework may also fall into the blame for which the students have a low success rate. There has to be a proper proportion on homework every day in order for students to succeed.
Wow... I just finished writing a whole 3 paragraphs and when I hit post it all got erased. >:(
Most students in High School,and even me at times complain that we get to much work in school. This is not true though, the work we receive in our classes is just to prepare us for the work where going to receive in High School. In my opinion as long as students can maintain a good work schedule and spread out their work evenly it won't seem like much work. Most students wait until the last minute to do their work, and then cram all their work in at the last second and that's why it seems like so much. I like having a a lot of work because it gives me a good perspective of how college is going to be.I believe that High School should be more like college so that students aren't overwhelmed and drop out once they reach college.
Dropping out or quitting is a " losing attitude". People who are not willing to work hard, set goals, or study, are just looking for the easy way out of any or every situation. These types of people are the "types" that obviously do not look at the causes and effects of situations; they just don't take anything seriously. I find it incredible that so many students drop out of college. I cannot even begin to fathom why a student would not work as hard as they can to excel and succeed in life. Dropping out is a way for students to take the " easy way out."
Is this new mindset just setting people up for failure? What I mean by that, is that if anything is challenging in any way should people just give up and not try to overcome the difficulties? I believe that a huge factor that applies in this situation, would be the way a child is raised. When children are taught to always work hard, even if times could be tough, they most likely will go places in life. This completely differs to an attitude of just trying to get by. A hard worker learns to always display and put effort into all work.
School and the future put a tremendous weight of stress on students. The students who want to succeed bring it upon themselves. Teachers are there to teach us. I believe that some teachers are not there primarily to give their students the best education possible. Some teachers make it seem like they are out to get us. I try very hard in school, always doing my homework and assignments. Last semester, I cracked down on the books and was able to maintain an "A" average in an Advanced Placement class. Greatly improving my test grades and all my other assignments in the class. It came down to a few assignments on one, which I did not do so well; neither did the rest of the class. I ended up with an 89.4 percent in the class. I think teachers should side with students as long as we worked to the best of our potential. Parents also impact a child's education. My mom, working in the Broward Public School system has kept me on track since day one. A lot of the lower level students don't even know to take the SATs or ACTs. There is a lot of information that most students do not know about college unless they have parents that are involved or they get themselves out there.
Students do have allot of stress but it isn't always from school,I deal with allot of stuff at home. School is were i can get away. I want to go to college and i want to complete it too.
School is my way out. I don't understand why so many kidsdrop out. I want to work in life. I take pride in knowing I accomplished something.
I would have to agree with Ricky. It is more the parents fault for not raising their children in an environment where they work hard. Children in other countries are disciplines a lot better. Without discipline, you can't have that good of a success rate because than all the children will be used to is being spoiled and having everything their own way.
I definetely agree with the idea that some students dropp off college, becuase they can't handle the stress, they don't know how to manage their time wisely, or they simply think college is "too" hard. I am a believer of the strong foundation theory. I believe that in order to succeed in education, or any other aspect of life, they should most definetely have a strong foundation.
I think that the major contributors, to a student's education, are their schooling teachers and their parents. I don't think the high school teachers should take all the blame for a student's failure. As I said before, everything starts with a foundation. What I mean by this, is that both elementary and middle school teachers should prepare students better, and most importantly, help the students build strong foundations of knowledge for the future. Students enter high school with the knoledge they've gotten from their previous teachers, so if they're not prepared like they should be, what makes you think they'll be prepare for the future. The reason I say parents also play a role in a student's education, is because if parents don't teach their kids when they're small about the importance of an education, then this kid will grow up without ever knowing how important education is.
I think that what students can do whike they are still in high school, to avoid droppping out of college, would be to learn how to work under stress, and how to manage it. Also, they should learn to use their time more wisely, and balance school and personl life. Last but not least, get used to the idea that college is not easy, and it will never be, but the reward at the end, is worth working for.
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