My Educational Settings Across The Country, Student Choice

General Education courses may be one of the most hated requirements in college by students. These courses are required amongst all college students regardless of one’s major or minor. General Education courses may vary with schools but usually consist of: the arts and humanities, social science, natural science, mathematics, and writing. These courses should be optional; students should be able to take them at their own interest such as with elective courses. Without General Education courses it is understood that students will not have completed or received credits needed to graduate. Required college courses should be based solely on one’s major or minor. Students should not be required to

Many high schools have requirements for students about what classes they need to take in order to graduate. Some students have a little bit of say in what they get to take but there are a lot that do not. Classes are not picked based off of interest,

Community colleges in the United States develop rapidly and have become a vital component of the postsecondary education delivery system. As of 2011-2012 school year, 45% of all undergraduate students were enrolled in public two-year colleges, approximately 8.3 million students (Knapp et al., 2012. Cited by AACC Fast Facts). And it seems that with globalization and Obama’s education agenda, the trend of growing enrollment in community colleges won’t change. A high school graduate who decides to pursue postsecondary education may face with a dilemma--whether enroll in a community college or a traditional four-year college. Even within a community college, a student may be faced with a choice—enroll in a vocational program and enter workforce after graduation with a vocational certification, or choose an academic program with an intention of transferring to four-year institutions.

In the past several years, there has been a growing trend in the number of college-bound individuals getting two-year degrees from community colleges or earning certification for their desired career field at vocational schools. Such schools certainly seem to have some valuable qualities: all boast of having lower costs than other colleges, of their absence of student loans, of allowing people to make more money quicker, of being narrowly focused so students don’t have to take classes they don’t need. They attempt to point out apparent weaknesses in liberal arts colleges as well, claiming that such an education is unnecessary in today’s world. However, for every reason to go to a community or two-year college, a vocational track, or an

As generations pass, and students change and develop, teachers and administrators propose new techniques to help students improve. From the introduction of school, to the division of age groups, to standardized testing, someone always has a new way to help students in school. A new idea, however, may be the key to success. A school in Massachusetts has developed a new program that challenges students with college level classes while still in high school. As students improve in school, to prevent boredom in the classroom, they need a challenge, this challenge being harder level, college courses. While still in the comfort of high school, students experience the rigor of college classes, this helping ease the transition into higher education

It would be great for every student to know what they wanted to do when they graduate. The answer to this is offering more specified electives. Students would be more involved and further progressed if they could pick what they

Students go to college in search of knowledge, a new lifestyle, and the hope of a job after graduation. For many young adults, college is a rite of passage into an independent, mature new lifestyle. Not only is higher education a rite of passage, for some, it is also an opportunity to have a better life. Overall, college is a wonderful part of many people’s lives, yet the way the college education system is conducted wastes students time and money. College is basically composed of two parts: general education classes and major specific classes. General education courses are the source of wasted time and money, and should not be required of students. A few of the problems associated with general education classes are that they are

Elementary, middle and high school all have one thing that never changes between the transitions of children’s lives and that is the arts that are in their electives. States all over have debated whether or not electives should be cut from school curriculum, however despite the disagreements schools are finding ways to make the arts stay. Some schools are troubled with the threats of budget cutting. The result? Instead of cutting the program all together, they are accommodating for that class to be taught by the general teacher. (http://education.seattlepi.com/) Middle schools are adding extra classes to their curriculum such as the elective benefiting from the extra time teachers have to work as a team to help the students understand the curriculum better. (edweek.org) In order to complete high school students are required to have a certain number of elective credits depending on which state they live in. I believe the arts in grade school benefit the children for life after

By the Year 2018, almost two thirds of jobs created in the United States will require some form of post-secondary education. Research has indicated that a rigorous high school curriculum is a strong predictor of college success and is positively related to standardized test scores, college enrollment rates, four-year graduation rates and negatively related to remediation rates. Additionally, students taking high rigor coursework receive several benefits in their postsecondary careers as college students including the ability to prove to universities that they have the ability to succeed in high rigor courses, improvement of writing skills and problem solving skills, the development of study habits necessary for college and the possibility of earning college credit while in high school. This research brief investigates the effects of participation in several high rigor courses at Englewood High School.

“States’ new budgets are providing less per-pupil funding for kindergarten through 12th grade than they did six years ago — often far less” (Leachman, 2014, para. 1). Budget cuts in school districts ultimately root from states trying to overall save money. It is happening everywhere across the nation. Schools feel the heat to provide all the educational opportunities to their students while staying under budget at the same time. However, when funding is reduced, schools cannot afford everything they once did. By definition, electives are considered to be, “…courses that fall outside of the main core academic subject areas (english, math, history, science and foreign language). These courses are not required, but a student chooses to take them”

Choice is at the core of developing Personalized Learning strategies. Giving students a voice in their education has been linked to increases in student effort and achievement. The degree to which a student’s interests and skills are a good match for the demands offered by a particular activity predicts how well he or she will attend to, comprehend and remember it (Deci, 1992). Guiffrida et al. (2013) found that students’ grades and motivation were positively and significantly related to students’ focus on subjects or activities closely related to their interests and

In today 's world where the population, especially of the United States, is growing gloriously diverse, institutions of higher education must also reflect this aspect in their student body. The purpose of colleges and universities is to provide students with the education and experience they need to succeed after graduating as well as expand their thoughts and perspectives. Thus, they must create and maintain a similar environment in which students will live and work in the future. Although diversity has been emphasized as a priority for many schools, socioeconomic diversity is often disregarded. However, socioeconomic diversity plays an important role in developing the perspectives and minds of students. Thus, it is essential for the admission offices, especially of prestigious universities like the University of Pennsylvania, to recruit and admit more economically disadvantaged students as well as for the schools to meet the needs of and maintain those students.

The current study examined participation in a rigorous high school curriculum and the corresponding outcomes related to college enrollment, persistence, and graduation. Because participation in high rigor college preparatory courses is related to college success, it is expected that students participating in courses with high rigor would also have a greater likelihood of enrolling in college immediately after high school, persisting in college through the second year and graduating from college within six years after graduating from high school as compared to

Hands-on experience teaching, and learning styles makes colleges stand out. Nearly every 4-year institution is run by the practical format of reading and writing. However, colleges that provide more than the general setup of reading and writing, are favorited the most. For instance, culinary schools, arts and design schools, beauty and cosmetic schools are high impacted from students with such interest; because they guarantee students with career jobs after completion of the course. In contrast, there are too many colleges that offer more lecture classes and not enough workshops. There is too many reading assignments and not enough simulations to real life encounters. The fact is, students have already spent years learning from textbooks and worksheets, college should be the time and place for students to put what they’ve learned to practice. Considering all the science classes conduct lab hours for hands on learning; the same idea needs to be implemented with more classes outside of the science majors.

It is almost July, and the youth of Cambridge are becoming accustomed to their (brief) period of summer freedom. For most, the law says they must go back to school in September. There is no choice.