Monday, April 13, 2009
Senior English
What do you believe is the most important thing a student needs to learn before leaving the FREE public education system? What do you feel your peers still have yet to grasp that they so desperately need to be successful in the real world? what would you have liked to learn more about from adults adn teachers, but never given the chance?
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4 comments:
I think that students need to learn about the expectations of the world. They need to know what people are going to want from them. I believe that I was not prepared to try and go to the best school possible. Future students need to be pushed to go to Harvard and other top of the line schools and not settle for in state universities. Everyone needs different things and I think one thing that is universal through out the students is motivation. We all need to be motivated to do better and want more!
I believe the most important thing a student needs to learn before leaving the free public education system is independence.
I did not come from the usual "free" public school system. K-10th grade I went to what is considered a private school because families paid several thousand dollars for their children to attend. So, I can say the majority of my education was not public or free. When you pay for you education being independent of reliance from anyone or anything makes your life much easier. It allows you to not just survive the mediocracy of a routine day, but thrive in a more enriched enviorment. When you understand enough of what is happening around you, where you can be independent, life takes on a different perspective.
When a student is enrolled into a public education system they are practically treated as though they are disability students, in my opinion. Students are given notes to copy down from the dry erase board, told where to focus in the daily reading assignments, books become reviewed in class as though they are sparknote material, ect. The student is seldom given any actual responsibility except to have his/her homework turned in, when most of the time the homework is nothing more than busy work.
When in college you are not told where to focus in your assigned reading because it is suggested you learn the skills needed to depict important information. Public high schools do not always do the best job of preparing their students for college. This is a sad part of reality that frightens me. Maricopa High School has progressed immensely over the past two years I have been here. However, when I first moved here I was shocked at the lack of work I was required to complete. I went from an average of 13-15 hours of homework/studying every single night to maybe 3-5 hours.
Students simply need to be taught fundemental skills that result in the independent student. An independent student can work on his/her own, but when necessary in groups. (Seeing as group collaberation is a large part of the college structured cirriculum). It would only make sense that public high schools prepare their students for college by teaching skills leading to independence in learning. Teachers should be used as a reference not an academic survival mechanism. The problem is that public schools are afraid of raising their standards. Until this issue is fixed and success is desired by the students, teachers, and administration the highest actualized academic enviornment for public systems will not be reached. This is my firm belief. In the real world having the skill of independence is the most needed.
Justin McClelland
I agree completely with Justin. I think that we changing from limping through school to trying to run in a marathon is silly. Although you have to start slower you also need to work your way up to that speed. Students generally rise to what they think is expected of them in order for them to pass or succeed. If they can do very little and still pass they don’t worry about it.
I also like Justin went to a private school through elementary and middle school although not quite as intense over the years they began to really prepare us for the future. My English teacher taught us how to take notes in a lecture without any PowerPoint’s or notes written on the board and how to do it effectively by using abbreviations and not putting in words such as “the” and using & instead of and.
Things such as this are in great need. If most of the students I know were thrust into a lecture class they would have no idea how to take down and remember the information. This is a simple example but an important one. Students need to have a system where they progressively get more knowledge and complex classes leading up to college.
I meant to put my name on the previous one but my computer went on befor I had finished its Faith
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