Sarah Butch

Page 1

D. Borowiak
English 111
October 2014

Topic Proposal
A problem that I see in secondary school education is that, in some cases, it is not preparing its students for higher level education. I have seen many examples of this in my everyday
life. Students are simply floating from grade to grade regardless of if they really even acquired a
significant amount of knowledge from their previous classes. After acknowledging that this was
a problem, I have come to realize that its been an issue in my own life. There have been multiple instances where I have passed a class that I really did not learn anything in. This is definitely
not helping students when they move onto higher education. I have experienced this firsthand
especially being a dual enrollment student. I now understand that my high school classes really
do matter, and if they are not taught well or students are not understanding the class in a profound way, then it will be quite hard for them to catch up once they begin college level classes. I
think that this is something students do not truly realize until they attend college. Second level
education should prepare students for college so that theyre not so shellshocked once they begin
taking more challenging classes. This is a huge problem that many freshman face upon entering
their first year of college. I believe this problem is due to the morals of educators in secondary
education and student interest and involvement.
Nobody, at least from my experience, really tells you what you need to know about beginning college and how the classes are conducted. Attending college is a big change from secondary education, but teachers should do what they can to help make the adjustment less drastic

Page 2
for students. According to James Joyner in his article 75% of Freshman Not Ready for College, most states are relying on standardized testing to determine whether students are ready to
move onto the next grade. This article points out the many ways that high school is not efficiently preparing students for college. Joyner even mentions that its possible in some states for a
straight-A student to not graduate if they fail a standardized graduation exam. Do educational
systems really think that that accurately measures how much a student knows? This article aims
to show that most students arent ready for college and secondary education is not doing much to
help.
As students, we work our way through high school thinking that we are learning things
that will help us succeed in life, especially when it comes to college. The National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Educations article Beyond the Rhetoric notes that students who go
through high school doing everything that they are suppose to do to prepare them for college find
that once they move on to higher education, they feel unprepared. This should signal that secondary education is not properly preparing students for the rigorous work of college. It is also
noted that many students take remedial classes in their first year of college. This proves that students arent learning what they should be in secondary education if they have to take classes
dealing with material they should already know.
Many people question why students are not prepared for college-level work if theyve
done well in high school. In her online article, Five Reasons Why Your Student May Not Be
Prepared for College-Level Course Work, Stephanie Fara states that students may not be prepared for college due to reasons such as students not challenging themselves enough, students
being too used to technology doing work for them, and colleges not adjusting to a new generation of students. Fara points out reasonable explanations for why students arent ready college.

Page 3
Its true that many students, at some point or another, dont completely challenge themselves the
way they should. I see a lot of my peers not pushing themselves to take challenging classes or
not trying to learn the material of the classes they are currently enrolled in. Its also valid to say
that we rely too much on technology. With spellcheck, google, and wikipedia aiding us in everything we do, its becoming a task for students to think for themselves or push themselves to expand their minds and think in different ways (Fara). With technology changing the way things
are done, its reasonable to say that colleges need to adjust to a new generation of students. We
are surrounded in a technologically advanced society and some colleges may be stuck in times
where things were different. Students learn and process information in different ways than we
used to, so in order for colleges to have successful students, they need to adjust to the educational evolution that is taking place.
I can say from personal experience that students, in some cases, are being passed through
classes too easily. Graduating students who dont deeply understand the material they learn in
high school is only cheating themselves and employers who expect these students to have the
basic skills they shouldve learned (Sherry 338). Mary Sherry, a teacher of adult literacy programs, states in her article In Praise of the F Word, that unless something valuable is at
stake, most students dont put school at the top of their priority list (339). Sherry also wrote in
her article that if teachers threaten to flunk students and stick to their threats, it will cause students to work harder and make school a larger priority to them. Teaching in this sort of way
would really help students in the long run, even if they dont believe it. Sometimes students need
a big reason to try hard in school and Sherry points out that this would do the job.
As stated earlier, technology has affected the way students learn, if they are even learning
anything. Technology may be becoming a barrier for students learning processes. There are

Page 4
many questions relating to technology aiding students too much when it comes to education.
Nicholas Carr, a writer on the effects of of technology upon our economy and culture, describes
in his 2008 article titled Is Google Making Us Stupid?, the effects of technology in his everyday life, especially when it comes to reading. He states that it has become difficult for him to
read lengthy articles without becoming distracted and foggy-minded (Carr 371). I can relate to
this, too. With Google always there to answer my questions with the snap of a finger, its becoming hard for me to search for answers and read lengthy pieces for information. This affects the
way students learn and what they really know. If students use the internet to look up answers to
questions, how are they going to actually know the material when it comes to the real world? It
may be a possibility that colleges are accepting students who have breezed their way through
high school using the internet to generate their knowledge. Carr points out his difficulties with
reading that Im sure many students can relate to. Technology definitely affects the way students
learn in todays society. Whether its detrimental or beneficial is up to you.
Almost all high school students can say that they follow the same routine every week at
school. Day-by-day, class-by-class, students follow their schedules. The repetitive nature of secondary education may be a reason that students are zoning out and not getting an adequate
amount of knowledge from their classes, thus causing them to be unprepared for the demanding
ways of higher education. Theodore Sizer states in his article What High School Is, that if students of an English class attend a job after school, the English teacher, or any teacher for that
matter, has lessened expectations of them (Sizer 267). Teachers that expect less of their students
are actually weakening the students chances of being successful in college. This is a problem
that needs to be addressed in secondary education. I couldnt help but agree with what Sizer de-

Page 5
scribed in his article. Whether school systems realize it or not, putting students and teachers in a
routine that lasts all year long can be damaging to the way students learn.
With factors such as technology, low standards, and a stubborn secondary educational
system, freshman college students realize that they are not as prepared for college as they
thought they would be. Students are able to pass high school classes that they havent retained
much information in. And once they get to college, they realize that the classes they blew off or
didnt show much effort in really do matter. This is a problem that secondary education should
be able to resolve. I was surprised at all of the articles I was able to find that involved this situation. It just shows that students not being ready for college is a problem in America that, as far as
I can see, is not being settled. Making sure that students really understand the material in a deep,
and lasting ways will ensure that they will be prepared for higher education.

Works Cited

Page 6

Carr, Nicholas. Does Google Make Us Stupid? Pearson, 2008. Print

Farah, Stephanie. 2014. Five reasons why your students may not be prepared for college-level
course work. Carnegie Communications, 2014. College Xpress. http://
www.collegexpress.com/counselors-and-parents/college-counselors/blog/fivereasons-why-your-students-may-not-be-prepared-college-level-course-work. 6 Oct. 2014.

Joyner, James. 2011. 75 percent of freshman not ready for college. Outside the
Beltway. http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/75-percent-of-freshmen-not-ready-forcollege. 6 Oct. 2014

Sherry, Mary. In Praise of the F Word. Pearson, 1991. Print

Sizer, Theodore. What High School Is. Pearson, 1984. Print

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. 2010. The gap
between enrolling in college and being ready for college.
http://www.highereducation.org/reports/college_readiness/gap.shtml. 6 Oct. 2014