Thursday, March 17, 2011
Restarting up my blog (or at least an attempt to)
So after 18 months (I've lost count...18 months give or take a few months) or so after starting this blog (and failing in my attempt to write regularly), I hope to start posting again. I have had LOTS of frustrations over the past three semesters, all dealing with general attitudes of fellow classmates and classes themselves, but I'll spare the torture of going thorugh all my agony. Just fast forward to March 2011. I'll still be venting out my frustrations of course, like usual, but I hope to post more often.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Today's Students Just DON'T CARE: College Students
This past year, I had the opportuinity to take some college classes at the local university as a high school senior through a dual enrollment program. I thought that the college students would be more serious than my high school counterparts, but I was wrong. In three out of four of my classes, many students did not care about the class at all. I realize that three of the classes were general ed. classes need to graduate so both majors and nonmajors were taking the class, but the students should still care about how they do. Especially when their parents are paying for part of their education.
First of all, let's start with my marcoeconomics class. Half of the students (or more) in that class did not care about anything. When it came to the homework assignments, many of them did the assignments half-heartedly. When they got the assignments back, many were surprised that their scores were low. I would hear complaints such as "Why is my grade this low?" and "I did everything correctly! Something is wrong here." Well, your grade is this low because you did not spend a lot of time on the assignment and because you didn't take good notes/ask the professor for help. On the tests, people would get 60s on the test and be happy about it. People would fail tests and still be happy about it because it was a better score than they expected. It won't surprise me if many of the students in this class had less-then-stellar grades.
Another thing that annoyed me about some of the students was that they were complaing about how hard the material is even though they already learned it to graduate from high school and why they are learning it again. Excuse me, but I'm taking the class to graduate from HIGH SCHOOL!!!!! There were several times I wanted to tell people this, and I also wanted to tell them, "If already know it, how come you can't do well on your tests and homework?" I resisted the urge to because I knew some people would be irritated that someone a year younger than them was outperforming them without any background knowledge in the class.
My American Politics class was slightly better, but it was still the same attitude. The students never really prepared for the tests, and did not spend a lot of time on them either.
Then there was my Spanish class. That class was just as bad as my economics class, and sometimes worse. As always, many of the students did not take the class seriously. Sometimes, a quarter of the class or more did not show up to class. On the last day of classes, more than half the class did not show up. And on the final exam, some people did not bother showing up either. Why would you not show up for the final exam?????
As for the class that actually had serious students...that would be a 300-level French class usually taken by French majors and minors. The students in that class actually cared because it is a class required for a French major or minor.
So from what I noticed from this past year with college students, college students don't care too. Just like high school students. If college students don't care about their studies, they are in for trouble in the futre when they are applying for jobs. I know not ALL college students are like this, but I've been around so many students that don't care that it is driving me crazy.
First of all, let's start with my marcoeconomics class. Half of the students (or more) in that class did not care about anything. When it came to the homework assignments, many of them did the assignments half-heartedly. When they got the assignments back, many were surprised that their scores were low. I would hear complaints such as "Why is my grade this low?" and "I did everything correctly! Something is wrong here." Well, your grade is this low because you did not spend a lot of time on the assignment and because you didn't take good notes/ask the professor for help. On the tests, people would get 60s on the test and be happy about it. People would fail tests and still be happy about it because it was a better score than they expected. It won't surprise me if many of the students in this class had less-then-stellar grades.
Another thing that annoyed me about some of the students was that they were complaing about how hard the material is even though they already learned it to graduate from high school and why they are learning it again. Excuse me, but I'm taking the class to graduate from HIGH SCHOOL!!!!! There were several times I wanted to tell people this, and I also wanted to tell them, "If already know it, how come you can't do well on your tests and homework?" I resisted the urge to because I knew some people would be irritated that someone a year younger than them was outperforming them without any background knowledge in the class.
My American Politics class was slightly better, but it was still the same attitude. The students never really prepared for the tests, and did not spend a lot of time on them either.
Then there was my Spanish class. That class was just as bad as my economics class, and sometimes worse. As always, many of the students did not take the class seriously. Sometimes, a quarter of the class or more did not show up to class. On the last day of classes, more than half the class did not show up. And on the final exam, some people did not bother showing up either. Why would you not show up for the final exam?????
As for the class that actually had serious students...that would be a 300-level French class usually taken by French majors and minors. The students in that class actually cared because it is a class required for a French major or minor.
So from what I noticed from this past year with college students, college students don't care too. Just like high school students. If college students don't care about their studies, they are in for trouble in the futre when they are applying for jobs. I know not ALL college students are like this, but I've been around so many students that don't care that it is driving me crazy.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Today's Students Just DON'T CARE: High School Students (Part 2)
“Seniors...yup”. That was going to be the saying on the senior shirts for the class of 2009 at my school. Many of the good students thought this was a good saying for our class because no one really cared about anything.
However, I think this saying can also apply to the Class of 2008 and the Class of 2010. Why? Because I spent my junior and senior years, respectively in at least one class full of students not in the same grade with me. Although some of the seniors I was around were better at caring about their work than the juniors, the overall attitude of both grades was like my grade: lazy and indifferent. Not that many people were serious about their work (even though some were more serious than others were, the overall attitude was bad).
As a junior, I took Physics and Pre-calculus /Calculus. Both are classes usually taken by seniors—though qualified juniors also take the math class—and I think many students were struck with senioritis in the beginning of the year. The physics students, however, had a case more severe than the calculus students had.
For those of you in New York state that have taken Regents Physics know that the class is not—and should not—a blow-off class. How did half my class treat it? As a blow off class. Those students NEVER studied for unit exams and NEVER took the work seriously. This was the attitude throughout the whole year. Even after many students were accepted to college, many of them still slacked off. Did they NOT CARE that they may be putting their college acceptance decision in jeopardy if their academic performance declined drastically from their performance seen at the time of application?
The indifference of these seniors is reflected in the Regents exams results (which I found in a school report card released by the state for each high school throughout the state). According to this report, out of the 53 students that took the Physics exam, only 62% of the students actually passed the exam, receiving a score above a 65—the report also showed the percentage that scored above a 55, which I think has to do with some “low pass” option which I don’t know the details about, and about 21% scored between 55 and 64, so do the math and figure out how many people got above a 55—which is just plain sad. Just as sad is the face that only nine students scored above an 85 on the exam, which the state defines as “mastery”. Nine students. And only 62% of the students actually passed. The results from the previous school year—2006-2007—are much more pleasant in comparison, with 86% of the students passing, out of 57. I realize that physics IS hard, but the students were taught everything they needed to know for the Regents exam. I wonder how many students’ excuse for a poor performance was because of a bad teacher. Bad excuse because it is the student’s own fault for a poor performance on the exam. They simply did not care.
I don’t have much to say for my math class because, well, most of the students cared about their performance in that class. I think this had to do with the fact that some students could be earning college credit and other students still had another year of school to go.
As for my chemistry class this year…where to begin? First of all, my class was filled with several boys who did nothing but goof off and annoy the teacher. Secondly, I’m guessing around half of the class (including the senior “Liz” that I mentioned in a previous post). I’m again thinking that all those juniors settle for mediocrity and think “It doesn’t matter how I do. I’ll go to JCC [the local community college] anyway for a couple years to save money. JCC accepts anybody.” The lack of motivation annoys me. The fact that students do not care about their grades shocks me. I hope the other sections of chemistry did not act in the same way. I don’t know what the grades of the students in my class were, but I have a feeling that some grades were not that impressive, i.e. C’s and D’s. Thirdly, most of the students either did not do or did not take seriously the review assignments for the Regents exam, and the teacher knew that.
After the second review assignment (out of ten), the teacher asked how many in the class had read the review assignment. Shyly (and maybe a little embarrassedly?), I raised my hand…may be one other person does too. Annoying boy (who shall remain unnamed) says to me, “Put your hand down. You did not.” I could have made a comment back to said student, but I decided certain words should remain unspoken (and it will remain unspoken). I can’t remember what my teacher’s exact response was, but basically, we were being told if we wanted to do well on the Regents exam, we needed to work for it. I wonder how much the look-at-how-many-people-actually-read-the-review helped.
And should I say that was one of the few (maybe the only?) students that went above and beyond the required assignments. Sometimes, we were assigned just the odds or just the evens. I do the required work AND all the other questions too. I would also work on old Regents exams. At some point, I commented to my teacher that not many people were doing what I was doing and that it was their loss. Her response? “It’s your gain.” My gain it was, because I did very well on the Chemistry exam.
As for the June 2009 exam this year…some questions drove the teachers nuts because the students were missing questions they should have gotten correct. Many students did not know what an isotope was, and many did not know how to do percent composition. How many times did the teacher go over this in class? Enough for me to be very annoyed hearing the same thing over and over again. I hope my college chemistry class is not as pathetic as these juniors were.
From what I know, most students scored in the 70s and 60s…some even lower. Once the school report card comes out, I’ll find out. On a side note: everyone else in my grade who took chemistry in junior year (like they are supposed to) also had similar results to the students this year. And many of those juniors blamed their bad performance on the teachers. Again, bad excuse because the teachers taught you everything you need to know for the exam. Y’all were just lazy and didn’t study.
If you high school students keep up this attitude, they will be in for a surprise in college. Just because high school was easy does not mean you can cruise through college and expect good grades. Are your Regents exam test grades from chemistry and physics proof enough for you yet?
However, I think this saying can also apply to the Class of 2008 and the Class of 2010. Why? Because I spent my junior and senior years, respectively in at least one class full of students not in the same grade with me. Although some of the seniors I was around were better at caring about their work than the juniors, the overall attitude of both grades was like my grade: lazy and indifferent. Not that many people were serious about their work (even though some were more serious than others were, the overall attitude was bad).
As a junior, I took Physics and Pre-calculus /Calculus. Both are classes usually taken by seniors—though qualified juniors also take the math class—and I think many students were struck with senioritis in the beginning of the year. The physics students, however, had a case more severe than the calculus students had.
For those of you in New York state that have taken Regents Physics know that the class is not—and should not—a blow-off class. How did half my class treat it? As a blow off class. Those students NEVER studied for unit exams and NEVER took the work seriously. This was the attitude throughout the whole year. Even after many students were accepted to college, many of them still slacked off. Did they NOT CARE that they may be putting their college acceptance decision in jeopardy if their academic performance declined drastically from their performance seen at the time of application?
The indifference of these seniors is reflected in the Regents exams results (which I found in a school report card released by the state for each high school throughout the state). According to this report, out of the 53 students that took the Physics exam, only 62% of the students actually passed the exam, receiving a score above a 65—the report also showed the percentage that scored above a 55, which I think has to do with some “low pass” option which I don’t know the details about, and about 21% scored between 55 and 64, so do the math and figure out how many people got above a 55—which is just plain sad. Just as sad is the face that only nine students scored above an 85 on the exam, which the state defines as “mastery”. Nine students. And only 62% of the students actually passed. The results from the previous school year—2006-2007—are much more pleasant in comparison, with 86% of the students passing, out of 57. I realize that physics IS hard, but the students were taught everything they needed to know for the Regents exam. I wonder how many students’ excuse for a poor performance was because of a bad teacher. Bad excuse because it is the student’s own fault for a poor performance on the exam. They simply did not care.
I don’t have much to say for my math class because, well, most of the students cared about their performance in that class. I think this had to do with the fact that some students could be earning college credit and other students still had another year of school to go.
As for my chemistry class this year…where to begin? First of all, my class was filled with several boys who did nothing but goof off and annoy the teacher. Secondly, I’m guessing around half of the class (including the senior “Liz” that I mentioned in a previous post). I’m again thinking that all those juniors settle for mediocrity and think “It doesn’t matter how I do. I’ll go to JCC [the local community college] anyway for a couple years to save money. JCC accepts anybody.” The lack of motivation annoys me. The fact that students do not care about their grades shocks me. I hope the other sections of chemistry did not act in the same way. I don’t know what the grades of the students in my class were, but I have a feeling that some grades were not that impressive, i.e. C’s and D’s. Thirdly, most of the students either did not do or did not take seriously the review assignments for the Regents exam, and the teacher knew that.
After the second review assignment (out of ten), the teacher asked how many in the class had read the review assignment. Shyly (and maybe a little embarrassedly?), I raised my hand…may be one other person does too. Annoying boy (who shall remain unnamed) says to me, “Put your hand down. You did not.” I could have made a comment back to said student, but I decided certain words should remain unspoken (and it will remain unspoken). I can’t remember what my teacher’s exact response was, but basically, we were being told if we wanted to do well on the Regents exam, we needed to work for it. I wonder how much the look-at-how-many-people-actually-read-the-review helped.
And should I say that was one of the few (maybe the only?) students that went above and beyond the required assignments. Sometimes, we were assigned just the odds or just the evens. I do the required work AND all the other questions too. I would also work on old Regents exams. At some point, I commented to my teacher that not many people were doing what I was doing and that it was their loss. Her response? “It’s your gain.” My gain it was, because I did very well on the Chemistry exam.
As for the June 2009 exam this year…some questions drove the teachers nuts because the students were missing questions they should have gotten correct. Many students did not know what an isotope was, and many did not know how to do percent composition. How many times did the teacher go over this in class? Enough for me to be very annoyed hearing the same thing over and over again. I hope my college chemistry class is not as pathetic as these juniors were.
From what I know, most students scored in the 70s and 60s…some even lower. Once the school report card comes out, I’ll find out. On a side note: everyone else in my grade who took chemistry in junior year (like they are supposed to) also had similar results to the students this year. And many of those juniors blamed their bad performance on the teachers. Again, bad excuse because the teachers taught you everything you need to know for the exam. Y’all were just lazy and didn’t study.
If you high school students keep up this attitude, they will be in for a surprise in college. Just because high school was easy does not mean you can cruise through college and expect good grades. Are your Regents exam test grades from chemistry and physics proof enough for you yet?
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Today's Students Just DON'T CARE: High School Students (Part 1)
The first installment of my three part series deals with my fellow classmates that I have spent the past thirteen or so years going to school with. The past four years have really shown the true atttude of many of my classmates: lazy and indifferent.
After the first five weeks of classes in ninth grade, a good number of students were already failing two or more classes. The administration brings the WHOLE CLASS into the school auditorium to tell us this fact. even though many people were not failing. Why were people failing? Laziness. Students just weren't doing their work. The work wasn't really all that difficult. If you did your homework, and if you read your assignments, you would not be failing!!!!!
What also annoyed me about my fellow classmates is that some of them are not working to their full potential. I know some students in my class that are perfectly capable of taking advanced classes, but because they do not--and will not--do the work required, they cannot take advanced classes and be successful in those classes.
Many of the students in my grade only settle for medocrity. They do not care to try for the best they can do. The kids in my grade are not all that serious about all they do, and think, "I can go to community college for a few years then I'll transfer. It's cheaper, and I can still graduate in four years." Uhh...not always true. If your high school grades are not that strong, then you will get placed in remedial classes, which will delay your community college graduation date.
One of my friends, who I will call "Liz" is one of these students. There was a class she did not seemed interested in at all. She is always complaining how hard the class is, but never gets extra help from the teacher. She never did the work when she was supposed to, and would always try to get the answers for late assignments out of me. I refused, and told her that she would not learn anything if I feed her the answers. Her response? "If I haven't learned it by now, then I won't know it for the final exam." She is always complaining "Why do I need to know this stuff? I won't need to know it when I teach little kids." Think again, Liz. Your future students will want to know why some science phenomana is the way it is, and if you can't answer that, some child may not be too thrilled when his or question has not been answered. On top of that, her grades in her other classes are not really that impressive. I asked her about her college plans, and at first she was planning on going to the local four-year college. Later she changes her mind and decides she wants to go to the community college instead. By this time, senioritis has really set in, and she doesn't care how her grades are.
What has this world come to? If many students have this attitude in high school, what will their attitude be in the future? When my classmates and I get older, we will be the future of America. If my fellow classmates have this indifferent attitude thoroughout their life, what will society be like in the future? I don't even want to think about it. I am VERY scared for the future. What kind of world will our children live in?
After the first five weeks of classes in ninth grade, a good number of students were already failing two or more classes. The administration brings the WHOLE CLASS into the school auditorium to tell us this fact. even though many people were not failing. Why were people failing? Laziness. Students just weren't doing their work. The work wasn't really all that difficult. If you did your homework, and if you read your assignments, you would not be failing!!!!!
What also annoyed me about my fellow classmates is that some of them are not working to their full potential. I know some students in my class that are perfectly capable of taking advanced classes, but because they do not--and will not--do the work required, they cannot take advanced classes and be successful in those classes.
Many of the students in my grade only settle for medocrity. They do not care to try for the best they can do. The kids in my grade are not all that serious about all they do, and think, "I can go to community college for a few years then I'll transfer. It's cheaper, and I can still graduate in four years." Uhh...not always true. If your high school grades are not that strong, then you will get placed in remedial classes, which will delay your community college graduation date.
One of my friends, who I will call "Liz" is one of these students. There was a class she did not seemed interested in at all. She is always complaining how hard the class is, but never gets extra help from the teacher. She never did the work when she was supposed to, and would always try to get the answers for late assignments out of me. I refused, and told her that she would not learn anything if I feed her the answers. Her response? "If I haven't learned it by now, then I won't know it for the final exam." She is always complaining "Why do I need to know this stuff? I won't need to know it when I teach little kids." Think again, Liz. Your future students will want to know why some science phenomana is the way it is, and if you can't answer that, some child may not be too thrilled when his or question has not been answered. On top of that, her grades in her other classes are not really that impressive. I asked her about her college plans, and at first she was planning on going to the local four-year college. Later she changes her mind and decides she wants to go to the community college instead. By this time, senioritis has really set in, and she doesn't care how her grades are.
What has this world come to? If many students have this attitude in high school, what will their attitude be in the future? When my classmates and I get older, we will be the future of America. If my fellow classmates have this indifferent attitude thoroughout their life, what will society be like in the future? I don't even want to think about it. I am VERY scared for the future. What kind of world will our children live in?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Today's Students Just DON'T CARE: Introduction
After having graduated from high school a few days ago, I pause to look back on my high school years. The past four years have just flown by, but the past two years really stuck out at me. Long story short, I was taking some senior level classes as a junior and a junior level class as a senior, and because of this switch, I really saw that students don't really care about their schoolwork. Now you may say that this was because I wasn't with students my own age. Observations of my fellow classmates (in MY grade) throughout the years also proved my thoughts to be true.
Now, I never really realized that students didn't really care until junior year because I was around students that were like me - the students who DID care about their schoolwork and were in many advanced classes - for most of my classes my first two years of high school.
As a senior, I also had the opportunity to take college classes at a local college as a part of a dual enrollment program. I was expecting the college students to be more serious about their work than my high school counterparts. Except for one of my classes, I again saw that students don't really care about their work. I should not have been that surprised that this was going to happen. Many of my classes were full of freshmen - high school seniors last year, and the same type of people I was around being the odd one out in some of my classes. Several of these classes were general education requirement classes, so everybody has to take them whether those classes were relevant to their major or not, but either way, shouldn't these students be more serious about their work? They thought high school was easy, so they also think they can cruise through college? I think not! They'll be in for a big surprise in the future!
My next three posts will each be about my thoughts on the attitudes of high school and college students and why they need to get their acts together...all based on my observations from my high school years.
Now, I never really realized that students didn't really care until junior year because I was around students that were like me - the students who DID care about their schoolwork and were in many advanced classes - for most of my classes my first two years of high school.
As a senior, I also had the opportunity to take college classes at a local college as a part of a dual enrollment program. I was expecting the college students to be more serious about their work than my high school counterparts. Except for one of my classes, I again saw that students don't really care about their work. I should not have been that surprised that this was going to happen. Many of my classes were full of freshmen - high school seniors last year, and the same type of people I was around being the odd one out in some of my classes. Several of these classes were general education requirement classes, so everybody has to take them whether those classes were relevant to their major or not, but either way, shouldn't these students be more serious about their work? They thought high school was easy, so they also think they can cruise through college? I think not! They'll be in for a big surprise in the future!
My next three posts will each be about my thoughts on the attitudes of high school and college students and why they need to get their acts together...all based on my observations from my high school years.
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