There are legitimate fears among educators that school systems are not doing what they should to be sure that young adults are prepared for college, more specifically preparing seniors in high school, and there is a strong backing to their claims. Twelfth grade is known not only to be the year that is supposed to ready young adults to adapt to the rigors of college, but also to be the last year to catch up on any prerequisites/recommendations for the college one may want to be accepted into. Both of these expectations are sometimes not even met.

Rosemary Sutton, Cleveland State University’s vice provost and education professor, believes that teachers mother their students too much, saying:  ”In high school, the teachers track the kids down, they know where they are, and the parents are involved. By the time you go to college, there’s less of that, you go to class more often, you have to manage yourself better… and some of our students struggle with that enormously.” Some teachers simply mention to their students the responsibility that will be thrust upon them without actually letting them be able to experience it and deal with it before the time comes. Teachers should put more responsibility on their seniors, causing them to take responsibility if they haven’t already.

Many states are finding themselves with a multitude of students who are not meeting ACT or SAT benchmarks, which ultimately means these students will have to take remedial classes during their college education. Statistics show that students who take remedial classes are more likely to not get a degree. Morgan Smith for the New York Times writes, “Because colleges are not good at gauging which remedial courses students need, some experts say, students fall through the cracks or give up because they are not progressing toward a degree.” Whether this is true or not, it can be said that if educational benchmarks are being met, students are not fully ready for college thus causing students to take remedial classes. However, there remains the argument whether the ACT or SAT is a good determinate of one’s knowledge in the first place.

It is important to also note that schools must combat other barriers, one being a sort of “illness” that seniors experience called “Senioritis.”  This colloquial term is used to describe the anticipation that a young adult feels towards the end of high school and marks the beginning of independence. Senioritis is known for distracting young adults throughout the school year.

Throughout such debate, for me, these claims beg the question: Who is really at fault for unpreparedness for college life?  The school system or the student?  As a soon-to-be senior, I have to ask myself if I could really blame my high school teachers.  Their responsibilities include always tracking down fellow students (and yes, sometimes me) for papers, and for possibly not instilling the attentiveness toward life management that I will need in order to survive college.  It seems a bit ludicrous to blame a teacher for whether I am prepared for college. Sometimes, people aren’t willing to learn what life has to teach them, whether is is from stubbornness or nonchalance.  I may have a different opinion in the future having completed my senior year and college.  I’ll keep you posted!

Sources: StateImpact, New York Times