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Andrea Winsor
College Comp. 1
Cramer Pd. 2
20 January 17
Shall Be Seen And Not Heard
You're sitting in a college classroom, its large and full of people youve never seen. You

have a textbook in front of you that is the size of an encyclopedia, and the stress from merely

being in the classroom is eating you alive. As the professor starts teaching, you notice that you

dont know any of the basic material for this class. The question you ask yourself is "who is to

blame?". An essential part of life is ones education. Teachers strive to teach students the basics

of their core classes. Unfortunately, students are more prepared for standardized tests rather than

college. Thus, making it hard for students to start college right away. The curriculum in high

schools have prevented students from getting a full head start for college.

To begin, teachers are told to speak out, but when they do, they go unheard. Several

teachers are bringing up the idea that students need to be more prepared for college rather than

focusing on specific materials to pass certain tests. Students in their senior year of high school

have no idea what they are in for when they get accepted into college. Teachers are expected to

teach students the basics of their particular class. Although, teachers are barely able to teach the

important contents of the class. According to a blog post from Anthony Mullen "Teachers should

be seen and not heard" (Strauss). Mullen gave his opinion on his blog post and he said "Today I

have listened to people who are not teachers, have never worked in a classroom, and have never

taught a single student tell me how to teach." (Strauss). This quote from Mullen suggests that the

people in charge of education are not qualified to be in charge because of their lack of experience

in teaching. Teachers agree strongly with him because they feel that students should be focusing
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on being ready for college, rather than tests that examine their students proficiency on a certain

topic. From the article, A Warning to College Profs from a High School Teacher,'' it says that

teachers feel responsible for warning and apologizing for how uneducated some of the students

are (Strauss). It is also mentioned by a retired teacher, Kenneth Bernstein, that when he taught

his AP classes, he would try his best to have the students learn proper writing skills but, he was

limited with what he could actually grade on their writing. Berstein then went on to explain that

she had over 129 students in her AP classes. Thus, making it hard for him to focus on their

writing skills because he had no time, considering there is a ton of material to cover in AP.

(Strauss). Overall, he saw the most problems with the AP exams. The rubric for the AP exams

consist of "free response questions" that are graded with a rubric based on the students argument

on the question. The question is not graded for grammar or rhetoric, nor is credit given or

reduced based on the format of the answer (Strauss). This example shows that standardized tests

do nothing to get students ready for college. To conclude, teachers should be able to have a say

in what their students are learning because they are the most educated and experienced in the

area of education.

The people who are in charge of education say that students should be given standardized

tests in certain areas. For example, in Pennsylvania, students are expected to pass 3 standardized

tests. The tests consist of math, biology, and an English and writing test. These tests are given, on

average, between 8th and 10th grade. Many students forget the material after they pass the test

because they no longer focus on the material. Standardized tests are a large problem with

education because many students do not learn the material again until they reach college.

Students who do not pass the tests for the college they are accepted into, have to take remedial

classes. Remedial classes are classes the college suggests you to take if you want to continue
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your education at their college. The classes have no credential benefits to them, but they do

further your education in subjects like Math, English, and Science (Ostashevesky). Lastly, there

have been studies to prove that seniors in high school are not ready for college. According to

education reporter, Lauren Camera, there has been some percentages lowered for students who

are actually passing their basic math and reading classes (Camera). For example, she conducted

an assessment in 2015 that thousands of seniors from 740 different schools participated in, and it

showed that only 37% of students were prepared for college level math and reading (Camera).

Luba Ostahevesky also noted that the rate of students passing exit exams is at its all-time high

but a large number of the graduates end up being unprepared for college (Ostashevesky). He also

states that 60% of students that attend two year colleges end up stuck in remedial courses that are

costly and time consuming. As a final point, the evidence leads to the conclusion that

standardized tests are of little importance because they do nothing to help students get ready for

college.

To conclude, the curriculum in high schools have prevented students from being prepared

for college. The research covered in this essay suggests that standardized testing should not be

continued and that teachers should have a say in what their students are learning. Overall,

students are not prepared for college because they are unable to focus on the material needed for

their first year of college. Also, teachers believe they should be able to have a say in what their

students are learning because they feel that students need to focus more on the actual curriculum

of the core classes, rather than AP and standardized tests. In order for students to receive the full

head start for college the education board needs to make changes so that students can move on to

college as easily as they did from middle school to high school.

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Works Cited
Camera, Lauren. "High School Seniors Arent College Ready." N.p., 27 Apr. 2016. Web.
Ostashevsky, Luba. "Many Who Pass State High School Graduation Test Show up to College
Unprepared." High School Reform. N.p., 18 Feb. 2016. Web.
Strauss, Valerie. "A Warning to College Profs from a High School Teacher." The Washington
Post. N.p., 9 Feb. 2013. Web