What Students Need To Be Ready For College

By Fahkreya

In high school all people ever talk to you about is college, and the importance and seriousness of it. They’re always trying to stress the difficulty of college to students and warn them that it does not come easy. And then if the students fail the blame falls back on them because the teachers warned them about it. But do they ever stop to wonder what might have caused the students to fail? Or what led to their failure? Maybe the problem isn’t from the students but from the school itself.

Lately many students graduate high school not being prepared well enough for college, due to the weak curriculums and teaching methods. Students enter college having to take remedial classes and sometimes drop out because they aren’t prepared for that type of complicated work. In order to prevent this students need a strong curriculum combined with motivation and honesty to help them excel and be prepared for their future.

In an editorial from the New York Times “ The Counterfeit Diploma” it talks about the way students aren’t being prepared properly for college due to the weak curriculums. In this article the author talks about a study that was done which showed that ¨more than one in five recent high school graduates could not meet the minimum entry test standards to enlist in the Army.” Giving this statistic helps prove the fact that even though graduation rates are rising the amount of students that are truly prepared for college is low. If the students can’t even pass an exam to enter the Army, then what are the chances of them graduating college and holding future jobs? If high schools strengthen their curriculums and hold their students to higher standards, then by the time they graduate they’ll be more prepared to tackle what’s ahead.

Despite the fact that kids are not ready to graduate, they’re still being pushed to attend college. Teachers think that they are helping students by doing that but in reality it’s harming them. In the article “Kid I’m sorry, but you’re just not college material” teachers aren’t confronting their students to tell them that college isn’t for them so as a result they end up failing or dropping out of college, wasting a lot of money and time. I feel like in order to prevent this from happening teachers should tell their students the truth about whether they have the skills they need for college or not.

Even though teachers and school curriculums play a major role in preparing their students for college and future paths, the responsibility isn’t all on them. In some occasions students fail because of lack of effort or lack of motivation. In the article “Ready For College” a student named Brittany Perry talks about her experience in high school and about how she blames herself for not being prepared for college. Perry talks about how she “didn’t care any more” about her education, and how she “preferred to hang out with her friends instead of doing her school work”. She said that her school offered classes and resources that provided the skills and knowledge needed to take on college, but she didn’t take advantage of that and ended up having to take remedial classes when she got to college. Like Perry, this is happening to many students. My fellow classmates experience this on a regular basis, where they have the resources they need but they’re just missing motivation.

Going back to my main point, I feel like the best way to prevent students from taking remedial classes would be to strengthen high school curriculums. Doing this would build a foundation for students and challenge them to work harder. Strengthening our curriculums will not only prepare us for college but also for other future plans. Students also need honesty from their teachers. Kids are being persuaded and told to attend college despite the fact that they’re not college material. Teachers know that kids are not at the level needed to attend college but still advise them to go. This is harming us because kids end up dropping out of college with nothing gained from it but debt. Overall college is very important and I hope high schools strengthen their curriculums and teaching methods to support young adults in their future paths.