Underprepared vs. Underperforming-Week 3

This was actually a really interesting session at the Learning Community Mini Spring Institute. It was about students who come to college underprepared and those who are prepared, but underperform. I think that talking about this is one that will really help me to understand that everyone is coming from different backgrounds. We had an interactive session where we had to choice whether we agreed or not with a statement that had to do with the subject. 2 of the statements, I had a stronger feeling toward. The first was “The problem lies within the High Schools ineffectively preparing students for post-secondary education.” I disagree. I think that a lot of high schools are trying to effectively prepare students for college. I might be biased toward my answer because I had a high school that I think did a very good job of preparing me for college. I can’t remember if it was Chelsee or Karen that said that the grade in high school was affected by the way her teachers knew her. I do agree with what she said, but I think the point of high school is to get you an introduction to the material you will have in college. I think that as long as you are doing the material and getting something out of it. High school, I guess, is doing its job. The other statement was “The problem lies within Higher Education’s unrealistic expectations and its lack of communicating skills.” I completely disagree with this statement! I think that that point of college is to prepare us for a career and I want to get the best education I can to be prepared for the next level. The expectations cannot be lowered because career cannot be lowered. I don’t think that its lack of communication skills is a problem either. If a high school wants to be successful, it would know the expectations. I also think that it isn’t a problem in most classes because that is what a syllabus is for. You should know your expectations in the class within in the first week. I may be adamant about this because I am in engineering and I rely on the education I am getting here. I need it so that I can do well in a career. I really did enjoy this session and hearing the different backgrounds that some of the other peer mentors come from. I think I do have a new perspective on how incoming students are coming in from high school. I think it will help in the fall to realize that not everyone came from the same kind of high school as me.