The transition between high school and college. Essay by Danny.

This is my first essay back at school for my english class and I hope I did okay. Let me know your thoughts.

The experience of college is overwhelming to a great portion of students entering college for the first time. Students are encouraged to use resources such as office hours, tutoring, and study centers to cultivate a bigger relationship between the professor and student. With all of these services and perks available to a college student, there are students who are not ready for college due to but not limited to the lack of motivation, academic skills, and the fear of failing. Preparing students in the late stages of high school and fostering a strong relationship between the professor and student can lead to developing intellectual members for our society.

Students often attend their first semester of classes and drop out of the classes thinking they can’t make it through. As Michael Kirst points out:
Misconception: Meeting high school graduation requirements will prepare me for college
Reality: Adequate preparation for college usually requires a more demanding course of studies than the minimum curriculum required for high graduation, even when that curriculum is termed “college prep” (7).

Underprepared students who enter college with the wrong expectations encounter fear, stress, and doubt which leads to students giving up easily and dropping out. Requirements today for graduating high school doesn’t prepare students with the “academic habits and skills” (3). Adding supplemental requirements to sufficient grades in classes and standardized tests to graduate high school such as preparation, study, team building and college level research is more beneficial for the student to transition from high school to college. Deborah Hirsch asserts this by pointing out that “High school students may have a pretty good understanding of what they need to do to get into college, and the importance of attending college for a career and financial success, but they have an undeveloped and even unrealistic understanding of what it takes to successfully transition, persist and graduate from college” (2).

Being underprepared hurts students’ academic growth that is emphasized due to self-doubt. Students with self-doubt have a greater tendency of not participating, completing the work assigned, or attending class which leads to mimicking the same cycle of self-doubt in any career or life choice. There are many solutions that have been presented in the recent past. Michael Kirst believes that “colleges and universities should publicize their academic standards so that students, parents, and educators have accurate college preparation information” (4).

Using technology can be an innovative solution to publicize standards like many colleges, universities, and vocational institutions do today. This can provide a plethora of benefits for the entire education system; it prepares not only the student but the entire faculty that’s involved. With more information, teachers in high school can provide tools for students to learn how to study, where to study, what to study. These tools can be integrated into the curriculum in and outside of class especially with the help of time management skills. Community college students would benefit from this especially where students have more responsibilities outside a classroom. An innovative study which later was published in a journal, “Adolescent Views of Time Management: Rethinking the School Day in Junior High School”, conducted a poll on adolescents time management skills with questions structured from the subjects of “time for sleep, scheduling test times, rescheduling time for extracurricular activities, providing time for tutoring, time to access technology, making time for stress reduction, time for skill development and planning” showed where the faculty and students can grow from (Strom et al. 44). The results of the study assert a “greater attention should be paid to teaching non-academic lessons that influence success. One of these lessons is time management” (Strom et al. 44).

Deborah Hirsch points out two programs that are already in action by the City University of New York and the Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies; students partake in college-level curriculum prior their first semester. Both universities are providing an immersive curriculum with a “schedule that includes both credit-bearing and noncredit academic courses as well as supported study time, college and career exploration and leadership, wellness and youth development programming” (5). Michael Kirst confirms this immersion and suggests to take higher-level courses with this statement
Misconception: It’s better to take easier classes in high school and get better grades
Reality: One of the best predictors of college success is taking rigorous high school classes. Getting good grades in lower-level classes will not prepare students for college-level work (5).

With all these aspects of preparing students in high school, the percentage of students attending college will go up and dropping out go down. High school adopting a “learn how to learn” perspective in addition to the current requirements and setting the expectations that is open and clear to parents, students and faculty, the student will be more prepared to transition to any academic career.

There are many solutions to help students transition into college from high school, but will the educational system ever see it successfully come to fruition in the next 10-20 years? With all the research and funding being poured into improving our country’s education system is not enough and needs to be restructured. Developing a relationship between the institution, faculty, and students will provide greater a greater intellectual community that will push our society forward.

Works Cited
Strom, Paris S., et al. "Adolescent Views of Time Management: Rethinking the School Day in Junior High School." American Secondary Education, vol. 44, no. 3, Summer2016, pp. 38-55. EBSCOhost, ncc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117381970&site=ehost-live.

Hirsch, Deborah. "The High School to College Transition: Minding the Gap." New England Journal of Higher Education, 04 June 2010, p. 1-5. EBSCOhost, ncc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=74012869&site=ehost-live.

Kirst, Michael W. "The High School/College Disconnect." Educational Leadership, vol. 62, no. 3, Nov. 2004, pp. 1-8. EBSCOhost, ncc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=507944564&site=ehost-live.