High School Students Future example essay topic

High School Heartaches It seems like today whenever I read about public schools I see the same exact questions or statements.? What exactly are our children learning in school? Are public schools the right answer?? Finally, the ever popular, ?

Low test scores in public schools.? Well I guess you can add two more writers to the list. Casey Banas and Mary Sherry have both written stories about our high schools and the education they provide to their students. Banas wrote an article called, ? Why Are Students Turned Off?? This article is mainly about a woman named Ellen Glanz who became a student for a little while to see how it is like in a high school class.

Glanz later reported to Banas on her experience. The other writer, Sherry, entitled her essay? In Praise of the F Word.? This is mainly about how teachers should start failing students if they do not deserve to pass the course they are enrolled in. The arguments that these two writers bring to the table are interesting, and do need to be taken into some consideration. The two essays agree on three arguments.

These arguments consist of problems with the educational system, teachers who need to get the students? attention and the students? future after high school. First and foremost, both essays agree that the educational system has problems. According to Glanz, a high school social studies teacher posing as a student, students did not do that much in order to pass classes or get good grades on tests. Also she found many classes dull and assignments were avoidable. One example on how to maneuver around assignments that Glanz gave was to give an excuse to the teacher for not doing homework assignments and the teacher accepted the excuse with no questions asked. The only option Glanz saw when returning back to work was to expect and demand more out of her students.

Glanz is now preaching, ? You are responsible for learning, ? (p. 660) to her students. In Sherry's essay she talks about how high school students were? cheated? by their teachers. According to Sherry many students that she has had in the past were upset at the educational system because they were passed to the next grade even though they did not learn the course fully. As you can see Sherry has found a weakness in the armor of our educational system, but she does have a cure for this weakness, she suggests failing the student. If the student does not learn what they need to know to succeed in the next step of their educational career, then they should not take that next step in their educational career.

Also, Banas and Sherry agree that teachers need to get the attention of their students. One of Glanz disappointments while posing as a student was how boring classes were. Once again Banas had Glanz comment on this problem, and she many suggestions for the teachers to make their classes more active for the students. She suggests that teachers need to find the best and easiest way to present a new topic. Also, to know whom to ask for answers and whom to try to keep silent, when to be comical and when to let the students know that it's business time. So she is saying that teachers need to be clear cut on the subject, and be well informed but at the same time entertaining to the students in order to get their attention.

Sherry once again points to that horrible letter? F? The most feared letter for any student, this letter can destroy an entire grade point average, and Sherry says that it can be used as a shell shock to some students who are going through the motions in order to pass. Sherry tells a very compelling story about her son slacking off in class, then the teacher threaten to fail him, and of course he straightened up and was a? straight arrow? , concentrating very hard on this subject and ending up with an? A? There is no doubt about it, hearing that I am going to fail something will grab my attention very quickly.

So maybe Sherry is right about having a rude awakening for all those slackers out there and just speak the truth to them, lay it all out on the table and tell the truth. If they are not going to pass tell them that they are going to fail. A shock like that will grab attention from the student. Finally, both writers worry about the students? futures after leaving high school. Banas says that certain students are infatuated on getting those good grades in order to get into that dream college of theirs, but the students blame the teachers for not teaching a certain course well enough. Glanz is worried about the high school students? future since many admit to cheating on tests or on papers and feel that they have done nothing wrong.

If students graduate thinking that they can skate through life by leeching off another person, then they are going to learn a quick lesson when they graduate high school. Sadly many students believe that being honest and doing what is right plays second fiddle to getting the higher grader in the class. Sherry believes in the same thing as Banas, but Sherry takes it a step further by saying that employers of the graduates are going to suffer due to lack of actual education of the employee. Once again both Banas and Sherry make good points on how we can change our schools for the better, but I must digress for a moment and say something about failing as an eye opener for students. It is pure ignorance to think that just because you tell someone that they are going to fail they will wake up and succeed without any motivation from anyone else. Everyone, not just students, needs someone behind them to encourage them to complete that last obstacle whether it is that extra mile to run, that one more question for the quiz, or writing that last sentence in an essay.

Work Cited Banas, Casey.? Chicago 5 Aug. 1979. Rpt. in College Writing Skills with Readings. 5th ed. John Langan. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2001.658-60.

Sherry, Mary.? Newsweek. 5th ed. John Langan. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2001.728-29.