Image: 2028 Class Photo via WCU Accepted
Last year, I completed my freshman year of college, and I can confidently say that the academic workload is no joke. My experience is consistent with a recent study that reported a doubling of U.S. college students who said they felt the same way. High schools need to do a better job preparing incoming college freshmen because, ultimately, these students are just not ready for a college education.
In high school, we were given lots of time, probably too much time, to complete assignments, whereas in college, assignments are constantly being thrown at us left and right. College professors teach their courses at a fast pace, focus on various materials taught, and overall have different expectations than high school teachers. Therefore, incoming college students are expected to keep up, use more critical thinking skills and better time management to complete their work than they did in high school.
EducationWeek explains that high school students about to enter college have shown signs of academic decline and are intimidated by large amounts of schoolwork before even trying it. Since, high school students are not given the same amount of work as in college, students are immediately discouraged by this new change. These feelings are a result of low self-esteem and confidence, which can negatively affect students’ motivation to complete their assignments.
School systems have realized that changes need to be made, but they are making the wrong ones. According to the article from EducationWeek, school systems have reinforced the “50 percent rule” in grading, which declares that teachers are not allowed to give students zeros for missing work. Furthermore, other public high schools have scrapped requirements for midterms and finals. Removing these aspects in our education systems gives students the easy way out and does not benefit their learning. Especially when in college, where they are required to take these types of exams each year.
Some high school students are made to feel as if they are academically ready to enter college because of what they are taught in high school, but, in truth, they are not. High schools are too lenient with their students, not giving them enough assignments to work on and being too tolerant with grading. Therefore, when they begin college, these students can feel overwhelmed and stressed out when they experience intense workloads and professors’ convoluted grading. According to an Education Data Initiative survey, the percentage of college dropouts during their first year is 23.3%. Out of the rest of the reasons college students have decided to drop out, 26% have dropped out due to learning obstacles. Once students start to feel distraught, they will want to give up and may believe college is not the right choice for them after all.
To help students make a successful change to their academic goals, West Chester University’s First Year Experience classes should be straightforward with students by telling them how much school work they can expect to receive, how often they should study and suggest advice on how to learn time management. If high schools aren’t going to prepare these students, maybe the first semester of college courses can.
Incoming college freshmen aren’t ready for college, and if nothing changes, they never will be.
Emma Reel is a second-year Psychology major.