In conclusion, not graduating from high school is a fatal mistake. Getting a high school diploma has many advantages for our future. In high school we are taught the basics of organization and logical thinking. These qualifications are crucial for when we apply on jobs. Nowadays the number of job applicants are rocketing, and those without a high school diploma could barely survive the competition.
Teachers should give them extra credit they can still have a chance at passing the class. For instance some students fail their class because of the teacher. Even though it’s rare for a teacher to not tell a student his grade once, it still happens. A student in science class thought he had a C for the whole semester and one week before finals the teacher had just told him that he was failing this class. Like a normal human being the student started to panic.
NCLB was established so that students were not held back in a grade and were promoted to the next grade. I think this is a political aspect that is failing our students. If a student is not understanding the material or doesn’t pass the tests showing that they understand and can retain the information, I don’t believe that they should be promoted. I believe that it only hurts the students because they get more behind as they advance through the levels. The ethical issues that regard the high stakes testing is that it could be unfair to some students.
Today’s students cheat for a variety of reasons. As students get older the pressure to get good grades and the pressure from friend’s increases leading them to cheat. Then some think that cheating is not a big deal or that it is not wrong. Schools and teachers should work together with students to help them feel more secure and to show them that cheating is not acceptable and that they will only be hurting themselves in the long run. Younger children believe that cheating is wrong but that it is acceptable in some instances.
It appears that testing is a waste of time, but in reality, it prepares students for future success. Another question that occurs is: What are students gaining from these different tests each year? Many people debate whether the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is considered to be pointless. Maybe these tests are teaching students accountability and responsibility, two vital tools for success in life. Within in the article, “No Child Left Behind: Test-Obsessed Education Won’t Move Us Ahead” the author, David Marshak, slashes the No Child Left Behind Act.
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.
High-stakes testing begins in elementary school, where the results determine promotion from one grade to another. “High-stakes test them determines graduation from high school; admission to undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools,; and professional licenses, and employment credentials.” (Spring, 16th Edition, 2013 American Education P.63) It should be self-evident, that mass produced, mass administered English language and reading tests would not be sensitive enough to bring to light the serious difficulties with English grammar, vocabulary and reading and writing that many students in school face. It’s a problem that to self-evident to those who crack the whip of standardized
In the United States a high school graduate earns 43% more than someone without a diploma, a college graduate earns 150% or one and half times more. Earning potential is low for dropouts, but the prospect of employment is not guaranteed, the unemployment rate for dropouts is 63% higher than it is for graduates according to the Bureau of Labor statistics (Statistics, 2007). Educators are aware that dropouts are more likely to be unemployed, earn lower wages, engage in criminal activity, have a higher need for public assistance, be single parents and have children at a younger age. An estimated 75% of state prison inmates and 59% of federal inmates are dropouts, and raising the graduation rate by one percent the U.S. would save $1.4 billion annually in cost related to crime and criminal activity, according to U.S Department of Justice (Justice, 2002). Raising the graduation rate is an objective that educators, legislators, parents, students, employers and all community members must be vigilant in
In modern society, parents and students are really worried about, and interested in, grading systems, as grades are used as critical data when students apply for colleges and companies. Recently, there has been a controversial question whether the academic scores should be determined by an effort or by an achievement. In my opinion, it’s more reasonable to consider an achievement when grading students. First of all, it’s hard to determine how hard a student works. There aren’t any objective criteria to rank students according to their efforts.
Therefore, if our family places a great deal of emphasis on education and its importance, we focus on getting good grades more than we focus on our athletic or artistic abilities, and may include intelligent as an attribute when describing ourselves to other people. Our self-concept would probably be focused on studious tendencies and smarts. When we don’t excel in the area of education, we may try to hide our grades and avoid talking about schooling with others because we feel bad about this. This would create low self-esteem. On the other hand, if our parents and siblings tell us that grades don’t matter as long as we try our very best, we may not have any problems telling others we failed a test when we studied for hours preparing for it.