many students, and does not discriminate based on age, racial, career goals or any other observable demographic characteristic. These students show an exceptional amount of fear and uncertainty about their futures and how they will achieve their goals through the college educational system. Regularly, students’ fears are created from past experiences of failure in school, which students viewed as “objective evidence of their academic inadequacy” (25). This reading has helped to overcome my fears. After reading how students felt about beginning the college life even when English might be perfect for them made me realize I am not the only afraid of English. Last summer, I signed up for public speaking at the Modesto Junior College even though I knew my English was not very good. I would have preferred to take any other class to start my American college experience, but this one was the only available to me at the time and essential to my future nursing degree. It was so terrifying the first day of class when have to speak in front of my classmates. After seeing the syllabus, I was completely sure I could not pass the class since there were so many speeches and other work required over just six short weeks. When the professor said the first assignment was to prepare a speech for over ten minutes, I felt completely lost on how I would to prepare the research, the outline and the slides and all in a second language. I was so terrified and overwhelmed, that I quit the class. I
In discussions of Charles Murray, he expresses his opinion on the thoughts and feelings that are being transferred to students before college, claiming them to be misleading. Murray brings to light the problem that exists in the constant pushing of guidance counselors, teachers, and even politicians to aspire for a college degree no matter what, “treating every failure to go to college as an injustice” (Murray 48). Yet, by doing so, parents and students are often blindsided by the overwhelming cost of college that many cannot afford, or the sheer amount of education students would put themselves through for no reason at all. Murray observes that “one aspect of this phenomenon has been labeled misaligned ambitions, meaning that adolescents have career ambitions that are inconsistent with their educational plans” (Murray 48). Convincing students that college is the only guiding light to a better life forces students to see college as such, an intellectual heaven where they can become anything, such as a doctor or an attorney “without understanding the educational hurdles they must surmount to achieve their goal” (Murray 48-49). They then attend a four-year university with the depiction of college as a “place where B.A.s are handed out” fresh in their minds, thoughtless as to if that particular college they are attending even has the educational requirements needed to complete their career goals (Murray 49). Unfortunately, as Murray reminds us, this is the system that is in place. For “a brutal fact
Noted authors, Brandon Chambers, is quoted saying, “If you are going to fear anything fear success. Think about what you are doing and when you succeed what life you will have.” There are several different reasons why I could stay home, work and not go to college; I could go to work every day and make more money for the house, it’s easier, and I would be less stressed. Now, on the other hand there are many reasons why I should go to school; such as further my education, make my family proud, and make myself proud. I am attending college for several different reasons. One reason is to further my education. I hate feeling like I don’t know something, I like being the person everyone comes to for information. Also, because I want to
In a May 2003 persuasive article published by USA Today titled “College isn’t for Everyone”, the author W.J. Reeves states “about 15 million people in America are enrolled in college.” This is a staggering amount considering the fact that many people are in college for all the wrong reasons. About half of the Americans enrolled in college are there because they feel they owe it to their families. Only a small number of Americans in college actually feel it is necessary for successful lives. In this article, Reeves recollects on his experiences as a college English professor at an institution in New York. He speaks of how he believes that many students truly do not want to be in college. You can tell this by his stories of tardiness,
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
In the podcast This American Life “3 miles”, Chana Joffe-Walt claims that some high school students look and only focus on what stops them from achieving a bright future and only think negative about their future and don't see what they are capable of doing, while other high school students believe in themselves and want to go to college, but at the end of the day their future is not what they had planned, it is not until the students see the other side and their plans change. Some students can be as smart as they can and love school and want to go to college, and teachers may say they are going to college but at the end of the day they don't end up going to college, also as much as a person does not see themselves going to college neither does anyone they prove them wrong.
College students that are attending first year of college have fear because they feel so scared that everything is going to be different from high school. Melanie states that “were not the only one to view the first semester of college as scary, unfamiliar, or life- changing. She clarifies that she felt scary because it's was her first year of college and hasn’t been familiar with the campus, professors and also life-changing is going to be different from she was use to in her life. Many students that attend college for the first time are always anxiety about how well they are going to be at college and that also going to be independent in their life since they graduated from high school. Many problems are going to go through their life as a college student but they should find ways to solve their situations even though if they scared to confront them in life. Melanie and I have a common on we both had similar situation in life. Melanie story life was that she had many difficult situations that she went through in high school and as a college student.
In the essay, “The Student Fear Factor’’, Rebecca Cox , I will be writing about on how one of the students that relates to me on her personal life experiences. Some college students find strategies to manage their fear on their first year of college because they feel nervous about on how are they going to do at college. College students feel sometimes they have concerns about not reaching their goals in life , not passing their courses, or afraid of life. The student that relate to me was Melanie because she recent graduate from high school and she enrolled in college. Melanie was a college student that attended at Lake shore community college. Melanie and I have similar situations that she went through her life. She was a full-time student and had four courses that was taken at her college. Melanie and I have both in common that attended a community college , taking for course , recent graduated from high school, and first semester of college.
Despite the fact that student’s desire is to gain a good education, some students fail their first year of college because they are not ready to pursue college life.
Over many years college has been known as a main path to success, yet many students find themselves being first-generation college student and face many challenges that come with it, despite the efforts colleges make to remove this stigma. “Thirty percent of higher ed students today are the first in their family to attend college, while 24 percent-4.5 million- are both first generation and low income” (Opidee, 2015, P.1). These percentages are very high, with 30% of students attending college being the first in their family many students and their families don’t know what they’re getting themselves into when they get to school. Students find that being a first-generation college students affects them even before they start college.
Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle in their book “Rereading America” feel that commencing college is a very disturbing experience. So many things we have to deal while starting college, but the major challenges are expanded difficulty levels and higher expectation which we are not familiar over the years of high school. In order to solve this issue, we have to remodel ourselves by taking up the challenge and rethink about our strength and flaws. To succeed in college we need to be mentally strong and dedicated towards our goal.
The transition from high school to college is a dynamic time in one’s life that parallels the change from childhood to adulthood. Both of these changes are dramatic and, as a result, feelings are difficult to put down into words. A messy combination of emotions fills the heart, surfacing in strange ways. Confident high school seniors go right back to the bottom of the chain when entering college as freshmen. These students start all over, just like entering grade school or high school for the first time. The move up from high school to college signals the switch from dependence to self-sufficiency. From a personal point of view, going through the experience of graduating high school and transferring to a residential college campus at STLCOP, made me realize I was no longer a kid and capable of making my own decisions.
As adolescents begin their senior year, the topic of college often runs without hindrance, often causing extreme stress. As the monetary value, as well as the time spent, begins to accumulate in their minds, students often find themselves bound at the wrists figuring out a way to balance as well as afford college living. In many cases, the upcoming graduates are unsure about their career path, almost enhancing their stress in choosing a school that would cater to their needs. It is almost then they begin to ponder whether or not University/college life is for them, which is could be an extremely advantageous shot in a, for example, high achieving family. Whilst college does allow for a plethora of doors to be opened, the lack of time, effort, and money can hinder one 's ability to properly choose a university. Though school can help with the stepping stones of life, they do not entirely ensure a proper future, therefore many may opt out of school; however, with the correct actions, they may turn out extremely successful, which may not have even happened without the release of the burden of school.
Starting in high school, students are not given equal opportunities to excel because of family background. Furthermore, the admissions process itself has its flaws—legacies, minorities, and athletes are being chosen over exceptionally gifted valedictorians. Even after college, the problems do not end; possible joblessness and student debt are unavoidable. On top of these major problems, educators and parents continue to convince kids everywhere that college is the only option to become successful, and choosing another path is heavily looked down upon. The newest generation’s life is centered around the climax of college while at the same time, more and more students are unable to attend universities because of cost or rejection, but this is a paradox. The more high schoolers work hard, the more high schoolers will get turned down to their dream schools, and the more the college admissions process effectively become a lottery, leading to “many highly talented, brilliant, creative people thinking they’re not” (Robinson). The widespread college problem has no easy fix, nor does it have a single solution. Rather than working to fix the unfixable, adults must stop putting such emphasis on the college pathway, and instead stress that there are other options. The future of the job world is unknown; there is no way to know if an expensive college education is the right choice. College, with all of its flaws, is just one option in preparing for the future; it is not necessarily the best. Therefore, the single word, “college,” should stop dividing the academic from the non-academic or the successful from the unsuccessful, and instead be considered a single path in an array of worthy
It is a well known fact but there are many people including counselors, parents, teachers, and friends who resist saying it out loud for fear it will sound like discouragement and negativity: college is definitely not for everyone. The pressure on high schools students, especially those that excel, to attend a college or university is enormous. And in the case of a bright, industrious and motivated high school student, attending a college or university is an obvious career choice. For those students, it's only a matter of what university to attend, whether one's SAT score is high enough, and the availability of the money. Then there are the millions of high school students who are not really personally motivated but are being pressured by their counselors, teachers and parents should they attend college if they really don't care? This paper examines those issues.
Even though before 2008 I was still inundated with symbolic reasons as to why not attending college wasn't an option, the actualizing of major financial insecurity and job insecurity backed up a fate with a fear of concrete precariousness. It was akin to sex-education by traumatizing worst-case scenario pictures: teaching through fear. Headlines of crashing stock prices, foreclosed homes, and titles reading “The Bachelor's Degree is the new High School diploma” filled the news channels my mother had playing constantly, and I subconsciously became afraid of not attending college. As with all fallacious fear-mongering, I implicitly assumed that the other path, was one riddled with danger and certain