I
read an article on USA today that talks about high schools failing to engage
students. Researchers have surveyed over 90,000 high school students in 26
states and have concluded many students are not being challenged in the
classroom. Just a totsl 56% of students that were surveyed said they put a
great deal of effort into schoolwork. Only 43% said they work harder than they
expected to and 55% devote no more than three hours a week into class
preparation. A total of 65% of students report that they earn A’s or B’s. This
statistic clearly proves that students aren’t being challenged enough in the
classroom. Only 37% of students who plan on going to college were reported to
spend over seven hours per week on schoolwork, just 11% of seniors said they
were spending over seven hours on schoolwork. This statistic can help show why
so many student have trouble transitioning to college. College students spend
easily over 7 hours a week on schoolwork if they wish to achieve A’s or B’s. There is a need for students to work harder and do
more rigorous coursework" if they are going to be ready for college.
Research has found that one-quarter of students in four-year colleges require
substantial remedial work. This
study also found that as students advance through high school, they are less
likely to feel challenged to do their best work. Researchers have found that a
high percentage of students are likely to spend four or more hours a week doing
personal reading online than doing assigned reading for their classes. A number
of governors have pledged to make high school reform a priority. What are your
thoughts?
I agree that students need to be challenged more and that does not necessarily mean a greater amount of work. I do not think that a lot of teachers take the time to put work into their preparation to make their classes interesting or they just continuously teach to prepare for the test.
ReplyDeleteFrom my own experience, I was just like those students. I did not have to try on my homework to get a good grade. Part of it may be due to incorrect placement in the degree of difficulty for the courses where students are placed below where the should be. Part of it may also be that students do not see a purpose in trying because they do not see how it will benefit them. One of the classes that I worked the hardest at, including my years attending college, was my senior year English class. I was glad that I was going to advance from academic to honors that year because even though the academic level is technically lower, the teacher was much harder. Fortunately for me, due to the small amount of students that would be taking the course, they cancelled the honors class and I was bumped back down to academic. That teacher challenged me like I had never been challenged before, even more so than my college English professors. She expected a higher level of work from us and in doing so, English in college was easy because I had already been working at that level. Even though it was more difficult, I am glad that I had that course.