The Importance Of Education In Education

Many students of color often fall victim to learning in under budgeted schools, or when they do seek to receive a great education, they are put in places where they feel like they do not belong. In the TED talk titled “How students of color confront imposter syndrome,” speaker Dena Simmons presents the issue of the “price” that many students pay for learning while not white. Simmons successfully presents her argument by using powerful, emotionally-engaging personal stories, adding subtle statistics to back up her claims, and brings it home by showcasing how her experiences lead to a career in teaching, which aids in establishes her credentials.

Students can achieve a stellar education, however, outstanding grades are earned not given. Moreover, students can achieve excellent grades in a plethora of ways. I was able to overcome a few hardships and achieve desired grades in college by employing a variety of techniques similar to Richard Rodriguez, author of A Story Of Schooling. Focusing on studies is one way to become well educated as claimed by Rodriguez (534). Although my roommate and other students pressured me to calm down about my studies, I always chose to prioritize my studies. In my opinion, grades are a religion, thus if I do not receive outstanding grades, I would dishonor my family and not only myself. Moreover, desired grades require more than just devotion to one’s studies, they

In their seminal piece, How College Affects Students, Pascarella & Terrenzeni (1991), states that “students’ grades are probably the single most revealing indicator of his or her successful adjustment to the intellectual demands of a particular college’s course of study" (388). Grades are significantly influenced by study habits, motivation, organization, and level of effort as seen in (Capella, Wagner & Kusmierz, 1982; Culler & Holahan, 1980; Astin, 1971b, 1975b). Grades tend to “reflect not only requisite intellectual skills but also desirable personal work and attitudes” (Pascarella, et. al, 388). There is evidence to support grades of undergraduates success will lead to the student earning a bachelor’s degree and future graduate degrees.

In today’s education system, grades and getting accepted into that top University and College is what matters to the majority of students. Kohn’s “How not to get into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation” suggests that grades are what controls every student’s life and that nothing else matters. Pressure rises exponentially to get above that cut off mark and squeezing every point to get a higher GPA is definitely reality.

From a very young age, I would constantly hear family members telling me about the importance of pursuing a post-secondary education and most importantly, getting good grades. By doing so, I would be ensuring myself a financially stable life in which I wouldn’t have to worry about money. This is the case of many college students, that sometimes are forced to attend college by their parents because he or she will be able to find a good job. This and many other factors have lead student to seek different levels of education to obtain a better position with higher salary. We have lost the focus of real education and related it with grades GPAs, job positions, and pay. This has caused society to live in a cave in which student are the

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value,” says Albert Einstein. Often with the idea of success in mind, many students, especially those with honors courses and classes, tend to strive for perfect grades and straight A’s assuming that a great future awaits. But do perfect grades and GPA really matter, and how significant are the benefits straight A's provide compared to average grades?

Grades do not affect your life in the long run. A student that may learn nothing yet get a high score on their quiz or test, versus someone who learns a lot but gets a low grade and unfortunately, colleges will not know any of this. Some students may even have test anxiety, making them do bad on test. Around 40-60% of students suffer from test anxiety.(healthycentral.org) So, around half of students have a chance of doing poorly on a test despite learning a lot. Colleges may not know this part either; they also do not know how much blood, sweat, and tears a student has put into the 12-14 grades before college. Many amazing learning experiences do not even come from school. Then, if a student does not use that information in school, they may think that it is useless learning information out of school. They may not even think this until they graduate. Recent graduates, a student with a college reputation, a high GPA, and courses are shown at the bottom of the list when applying for a job.(theatlantic.com) So remember, a couple bad grades will not land you a job at McDonald’s for the rest of your life, and experiences. Though, for students who do not believe this, will it just cause them stress?

In education today, schools prioritize grades. This often leads students to believe that grades define success. But there is a recurring issue involving grades that constantly comes to mind. Education’s emphasis on grades has lead students to believe that their grades are much more valuable to them rather than their learning which in the end is not beneficial in any way.

“Today's students may be more stressed than ever before. In fact, the 2015 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment found that 85.6 percent of students had felt overwhelmed in the past year. The pressures of getting top grades, balancing extracurricular activities with studying, and spending time with family all add up,” (Carlson). Statistics show that students’ stress levels are rising and the newly found stress causes negative effects. Surveys and studies have shown that the stress has come from the school system and its attributes. The extreme levels of stress are the main foundation for many issues to sprout and cause problems for the students. Besides causing issues, the stress teenagers have led them to deplorable outlets that hurt them in the long run. The research shows, that the high school setting is the cause of teenagers being extremely stressed out, the stress causes issues, and it has caused them to turn to destructive outlets.

Whether it’s your parents pushing you to boost your GPA, teachers criticizing you for a less-than-stellar test scores, or your own drive to get in to your first-choice college — or some combination of the three — academic pressure can get the best of you if you don’t learn how to deal with it properly.

Young adults, or adolescents, begin their last four grades of statutory education in a place called high school. The purpose of this arduous journey is to teach a large range of prosperous skills, information, and knowledge that will aid students throughout college and ultimately the real world. In the society we live in today, however, people never question the pressure this quantitative form of education imposes upon students. This crushing, mortifying stress plummets the mental and physical health of pupils—sometimes to the point of no return. Colleges contribute greatly to this injustice as well: tuition fees and acceptance rates result being the primary concerns of families across the nation. Today’s society should not endorse the over pressurization of college, as that in return results in the declination of health of high school students.

How can we make education better for kids that are struggling in school? This is a question that plagues teachers every year as they see a continuous intake of students that are unable to meet the educational standards set by the state. Students that fail to meet these requirements end up falling behind their peers. This creates a negative effect on the students’ self-esteem and ultimately influences their entire academic career. School administrations have acknowledged this problem and have implemented a system to identify these students, called Response to Interventions (RTI). This is a three tier system that breaks down the students results of test scores from core subjects. It then categorizes students by identifying learning and behavioral needs. Students are then placed into one of the following three tiers:

Civil rights promise equal treatment under the law, and it is required by law that all children must go to school. Under this law, it follows that children should receive equal treatment in their education. Education is a vital aspect of children’s lives to educate and provide a good foundation for their life. However, not all public schools are equal. This was demonstrated in the segregated schools where African American students received a lesser quality of education compared to their white peers. The fight for education equality continues; the inequality is seen in the varying states and school districts who run their schools differently and are made up of different constituents, which affects the quality of schooling that different

The purpose of this action plan is to ensure that girls around the nation are provided with better education opportunities. And ensure that education is available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable as stated in the 4a framework. In 2005 the world missed the first target agreed within the framework for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): to eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by that year. (ANON, 2017) With this plan of action, we can turn that around.

In High school, I was a relatively high achiever and so for every subject I was placed in top sets. I was also very well behaved in school and always had good relationships with both teachers and my peers. My teachers put a lot of expectation on me because of this and I was always encouraged with positive teacher labelling to work hard. I found the expectation placed upon myself to achieve high grades caused a lot of unnecessary worry and stress. University is a prime example of an expectation placed on high achieving pupils and the subject was pressed so frequently that it often felt like it was the only option. Many of those in top sets were middle class, had clean uniform, well resources by parents and showed a willingness to learn which could influence a teacher to believe they are well suited to a focused environment like university.