Hewitt 1

Katie Hewitt

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp. 1 Pd. 7

31 January 2017

Are You Prepared for College?

As a high school student, your future is constantly in thought when approaching your

senior year. Some may partake in furthering their education by attending a college after

graduation, but does the high school you attend help you prepare for this next step of your life?

Some argue that high school students are not prepared enough as the college professors assumed.

There are several contributing factors as to why this unpreparedness has been an issue. High

school students are often not "college ready" because of classroom curriculum and state testing.

First of all, the teacher Kenneth Bernstein, explains why he believes that teachers are not

to blame for students not being ready for college. Kenneth Bernstein is a former high school

teacher and he starts off by simply apologizing to the college professors and colleges; he claims

that the teachers are not fully to blame for the students attending college who are not prepared

well enough for the college work. American schools put into effect the "No Child Left Behind

Act" in 2002-2003 school year. (Strauss,) The act implied that giving a standard test to measure

each students' performance would hold teachers accountable and ensure students achievements.

However, the test dont actually show "yearly progress" (Strauss,) In AP, students are required to

take test that are graded by a rubric and Kenneth said that even when states include writing, the

writing that they are grading does not involve a higher level of thinking. "College Board did

recognize that not everything labeled as AP met the standards of a college level course it
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required teachers to submit syllabi for approval" (Strauss,) Bernstein said that his students did

well on the free response questions because they practiced bad writing. "Teachers might prepare

students to answer those questions in a formation that is not good writing by any standard. If you

want your students to do their best, you have to have them practice what is effectively bad

writing." (Strauss,) Bernstein also said that in his AP class, he had 129 students and " a teacher

cannot possibly give that many students the individualized attention." (Strauss,) Teachers have

little say when it comes to meetings about the educational policy and they have little to no say in

voicing their opinions. "I strongly urge you to read 2009 National Teacher of the Year Anthony

Mullen's famous blog post, Teachers Should Be Seen and Not Heard" (Strauss,) The blog gives a

scenario and explains that he sat through listening to a bunch of noneducators sit there and talk

about their own policies rather than actually caring for the students. He also said that he didnt

know if he'd have to be asked to sit with a bunch of doctors and create a curriculum for them.

He said, " I realized that most people would think that I am unqualified to sit on such a

committee because I am not a doctor, I have never worked in an emergency room, and I have

never treated a single patient. So what? Today I have listened to people who are not teachers,

have never worked in a classroom, and have never taught a single student tell me how to teach.

In addition, another contributing factor is some states make students have to pass a

standardized test in order to graduate, but even those who have passed that test, are not college

ready. A student was studied and she scored a 70 on the test, which is passing the state exam but

yet she did poorly on the college entrance test and was put into remedial classes.
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Works Cited

Ostashevsky, Luba "Many who pass state high school graduation tests show up to college

unprepared." High School Reform

Strauss, Valerie "A warning to college profs from a high school teacher" N.P The Washington

Post 9 Feb 2013