Erica Goldson Valedictorian Speech Response Erica Goldson brought up a very controversial and very interesting topic about our current education system in the US. She states that students are so focused at memorizing data and getting good grades, that they miss out on the whole idea of learning and being educated. I agree with her, students should be learning and absorbing the material, instead of memorizing for the next big test and just forgetting about it later on. Graduating seems like the top priority in students nowadays, and to me that is just upsetting. And the students who are very talented and are very motivated to learn and be driven in a non-academic subject seem to have a more negative image than the people who are driven by academics.
Learning Against Grades In this society, students are encouraged to pursue a higher education after graduating from high school. Yet, each individual has a different reason for desiring to move on to college. Students attend college either because they want to increase their knowledge, get a decent paying job after college, or they just want to get the “college” experience instead of going on to the working force after high school. As a first-year college student, I pictured college to be a “… place for learning and growth…” (Jerry Faber, 387), but I was slightly wrong. Everyday I stress over earning a good grade in my classes, instead of being driven to learn the material of the course.
In society many would think that teaching financial literacy in high school is not a good idea because the students already have many things to worry about. They think that teaching financial literacy would just add on to the load. They also assume that financial literacy skills are just common sense. Whereas some people also believe that teaching financial literacy is an excellent idea because it will help the students manage their future finances well. It will help them understand the basics of financial planning as it is not common sense.
As in the article “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes” by Max Roosevelt, it is understandable that the students will want to receive a high grade for putting in an extreme amount of effort; although most teachers and/or professors don’t see it that way. They see it as your paper must be error free in order to receive the highest grade possible. To students creating the perfect paper seems impossible, even if they have all the right points and arguments. Furthermore, the teachers/professors really don’t know how much effort the student has put into the paper so they couldn’t grade on effort. For some students it may come naturally to just be able to create great essays so for them it seems to be a breeze.
This can affect their education as they will not want to stay on in further education, as they can get a job and make money straight away. ), and Present-time orientation (The w/c believe that you should savour every day, as tomorrow may never come. With this frame of mind, they may think education is a waste of time, as it may not benefit you if tomorrow never comes.) These two sociologists’ theories and practices prove that there are major differences in achievement between classes. However, these theories stereotype, and blame the family too much.
Some students who are labelled as not being intelligent will work really hard to ensure that they move up or achieve more than was expected of them. Labelling also creates competition, this works with setting and streaming as students constantly try to get into the next set up or maintain their place in their set as it is ‘not safe’. Finally, sociologists may disagree as they would say that there are many factors as to why a student may underachieve. They would say that there are other things that are more important including the home background of the child. If the child’s parents are not educated then it can be said that they may not understand the school system and may not support the school.
Despite the benefits teachers and schools obtain, standardized testing like the FCAT is not effective in evaluating student’s performance because not all students learn at the same level, they fall under pressure, and they are being taught just for the test which prevents from learning skills that are yet to be learned. Admittedly, the FCAT brings benefits to
It also burdens colleges with providing preparation that should have taken place earlier. (Bauerlein) Bauerlein takes a dig at teachers for not preparing their students well enough to be successful in their next step in life, college. Because of the bad preparation teachers give the students, when they are ready to go to college they are bound to take remedial classes because if they take normal courses they will most likely fail them. It is a teacher’s duty to prepare the student for his future. It is the schools responsibility to be able to provide good enough teachers, who can prepare these students.
Students do not realize that plagiarizing someone else’s work is actually stealing. The educational system does not teach this to students. The educational system should teach that you have to cite an author even if you just take their idea and do not use their exact words. The online companies that generate essays for students should be outlawed. This is making it where students that have a lot of money can easily get by with actually learning how to write correctly.
A lot of young people would love to go on to university but the fees and the debt that they are left are a deterrent and so they dot want to go on to further education. The concern of fees means that some who have the potential and dream to achieve are not, because they don’t have the finances to do so. Young people also highlighted not feeling safe in their area and postcode wars as a huge concern. The rivalry between different areas means that if you’re from area A and go to area at risk of being in conflict. This means that leaving their area isn’t safe but then being in their area also doesn’t make them feel safe because of the rivalry between estates within the area, as well as the high levels of crime that take place.