High School Students example essay topic
Abolishing high school would not solve any problems in our educational system. There are many ways to improve upon our school system; however, we need to start at the beginning. In an essay by Harley Tong, high school is portrayed as "a waste of time and a struggle to remain interested in schoolwork". He continues to describe his own experiences and how they led him to begin his college career two years earlier than most students. He complains of the way that he was physically and verbally abused by other students, which is the case in many high schools. High school is not only a cognitive learning environment; it is also a social learning environment.
Students learn how to communicate with fellow pupils, teachers and administrators. They find out how to come independent from their parents and how to prepare for the rest of their lives. I believe that Harley Tong was simply too advanced for his surroundings. He most likely found the other students immature and didn't fit in with them. In his case, he found a solution to attend a community college instead of his high school, which I commend him for. Many students in his situation would simply drop out, and that is not the answer.
George F. Will's "College President's Plan: Abolish High School" conveys ideas that had never crossed my mind. He states, "For various reasons, some rooted in American history and others reflecting recent developments, education has become, for the moment, the most salient social concern and therefore the most potent political issue". Will introduces Leon Botstein, who doesn't actually option to abolish high school, just to change the structure of our schools in general. Botstein says that high school was created for 15- to 18-year-olds who were still children. In today's society, those children are now young adults who are physiologically and psychologically more advanced. So if high school students are not children, functioning with their "self declaration of independence", we must make grades more appropriate to the students' psychological age.
Botstein wants to let students finish high school during 10th grade so that they may be treated well in college. This treatment would include smaller classrooms and occasional seminars. I agree with the notion that our high schools need some kind of reform. But, as I previously mentioned, abolishing high school is not the answer.
If students are struggling because they are not being challenged, we need to fix our educational systems starting at elementary school. We need to start at the beginning because by merely focusing on the high school students, we are undermining our purpose. Children deserve to be educated so that they may be successful for the rest of their lives. The public should support America's educational system, because they are educating the children who are our future.