In his article “Message to My Freshman Students,” Keith Parsons insists that high school does not prepare students for a college education. He tells his students that going to college is like traveling to another country that has a different culture and different values than what they are used to. Students start college with the same approach they did in high school which leads them to find the academic ways hard to understand. In high school there is always someone there to make sure you are doing what you are supposed to. Your parents are there to make sure you get to school, and your teachers are there to make sure you are doing your work. Parsons claims high school teachers go out of their way to make sure their students are learning the materials presented in class. They also dedicate their time to make sure their student’s success in the classroom is their number one priority. That is not the case in college, argues Parsons. It is your responsibility to wake yourself up and get to class on time, and the professors are not going to check up on you. In college, professors will provide you with the information and leave the learning up to you. Parsons reminds us that it does not concern him or any other professor whether their student passes the class or not. A high school education revolves more around test-preparation than it does on actually teaching students how to learn the materials they are being taught, so when students get to college they have no idea how to sit in a classroom and take notes from a lecture. High school teachers are required to teach according to a specific curriculum in order to better prepare their students for the big standardized test at the end of the year. The format of a college course depends on the professor, but none of them will include a PowerPoint that you can copy verbatim and they usually include little or no test preparation. The professors expect you to be able to listen to a lecture, take notes, and use the information you write down to study for any exam.
As a freshman student myself, I have to say that I agree with Parsons. I acknowledge that college is a completely different place than high school, and I definitely did not come to college mentally prepared for what occurs. I have only been in college for a week, and I have already been put in a situation that high school did not prepare me for. Even after completing four years of high school I still do not know how to take notes from a lecture. I think that this is because high school teachers present all of their information on PowerPoints, which does not require the students to listen and take notes at all. High school teachers should focus more on presenting the information in a format that requires students to be more attentive in the lessons. While at college I know that it is up to me to get my work done on my own time, but it is very hard to learn how to manage your time when you are used to having everything done at a set time with constant reminders. Since I have been in college I have not been reminded that I have an assignment due, or that I need to study for an upcoming test. In most of my classes the schedule has been set since day one, and the professors expect me to know when I have a quiz or test without them telling me. It is up to me to take the time to look it up on their website. I do not deny the fact that my high school education has not completely prepared me for college.
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