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Elizabeth Walt
Mrs. Cramer
College Comp PD. 3
20 November 2020

Are Students Going to Survive College? No… Not at All

in a young person’s life is high school. Teens learn to write essays, calculus, and everything in

between, but are they taught to apply this information outside of a school setting? Is it simply

shoved into the back of a student’s mind to collect dust and never see light again? Important

daily skills are not covered in the average curriculum, and options after graduation are often

overlooked. As a result, the number of high school students without any plans for their futures

grows rapidly every year. Teenagers aren’t being given opportunities to build independence.

College freshmen move back home with their parents because they don’t know how to do

laundry or pay taxes. There is an obvious solution to this ever-present issue; why don’t schools

start to teach necessary life skills right there in the classroom? Schools should better prepare

students for adulthood because they will be more successful in college and their careers, more

motivated to perform in school, and more independent as adults.

To begin, students who choose post-secondary education often enter their new schools

academically incapable of surviving college. High schools often focus more on obtaining credits

to graduate than they do college and career readiness, and this is setting students up to fail. A

2016 study by the Education Trust stated about eight percent of students took courses that would

prepare them for college and careers (Moser). That means that 92 percent of students took

courses insufficient for college readiness. Instead of taking beneficial courses, students take

courses that will earn them credits required for graduation, and as a result, they end up
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underprepared for classes that they’re required to take for postsecondary education. In addition,

research conducted by the College Board concludes that a fourth of students were required to

take remedial courses without receiving credit (Sanchez). Remedial courses, designed to catch

students up, can slow college graduation, and more importantly, receiving a degree and finding

work. High schools need to shift curriculum to focus on career readiness to give students more

time and opportunities to prepare themselves for college, and eventually, their careers. Colleges

also fail to prepare students for the world of work; approximately thirty percent of college

students feel underprepared to work, and that number is far too high (Guise). If students are not

prepared for work, they are unlikely to find a job in their chosen field of study. It appears that in

order to create successful workers, high schools and colleges must teach skills necessary for

careers and offer pathways to all sorts of jobs to give students time to focus on preparing

themselves. Simply adding more to existing classes is sufficient; for example, teach students to

calculate interest rates in math class and apply for jobs in English. Small changes such as those

mentioned will give students more opportunities to prepare for college, and as a result, they’ll

find jobs and be successful.

Another current issue in most high schools is that their students don’t try, and they lack

the motivation to do their best. Students believe that teachers have abysmally low expectations in

terms of projects and assignments (Sanchez). They’re also not properly prepared for failure, an

inevitable event that will make an appearance in every young person’s life. Students are not

being held to high enough standards in both high school and college; as a result, their motivation

drops, and they don’t try. The students realize this as well; for example, approximately 82

percent of college students would have tried harder if their professors would have raised their

expectations (Chen). In addition, failure is punished in high school, and some students don’t fail

at all, and when they eventually go to college and into the world of work, failure can be
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shocking; “When students enter the real world, and are turned down for a job in favor of the

secretary’s nephew, they will be mentally unprepared for it unless they learned outside of

school” (Guise). Failure crushes motivation and drive for students. This needs to change before

more hardworking students lose hope and drop out of school. Schools can better prepare their

students by raising expectations, and in return, normalizing lower grades and failure. By doing

this, students will learn to bounce back quickly from bad grades and other life events. This will

not only create more confident students, but also raise satisfaction at work and in school.

Finally, independence is a critical part of the transition from adolescence to adulthood,

and students are not being taught necessary life skills to become independent. College freshmen

often move back home with their parents because they don’t possess the skills necessary to live

on their own. Instead of focusing on ways to prepare for adult life, school teaches students how

to memorize information. While this is an important tool for success, it should not be taught at

the expense of critical life skills. As a result of lacking these skills, students move home with

their parents and do not get the chance to earn their college degrees. If students cannot function

as adults, how will they keep a steady job or support themselves and their families? The reasons

that students move back home include the inability to do laundry, cook, and other important day-

to-day skills that are necessary in independent adults. This is unacceptable. Some schools are

already taking steps towards solving this growing problem. Texas schools have a plan to include

life skills in their curriculum. Called Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the plan

would incorporate critical skills such as voting, sexual health, and taxes into classes to ease the

transition from high school to college, and more importantly, adolescence to adulthood(Toe, et

al). Skills included directly into classes give every student the chance to learn because not all

students will learn from their parents. In math classes, high school students would learn how to

pay taxes and mortgage, and home economics classes would make a reappearance (Toe, et al).
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This means that students would receive the opportunity to gain independence right in the

classroom. Curriculum shifts like these will better support students and prepare them for the real

world. Learning to be independent before going to college will give students more time to focus

on college, and it will be easier for them to live away from home.

In conclusion, schools need to better support their students to allow them to remain

focused on college and careers, have more motivation, and build independence. Schools can

teach necessary skills in classes to ensure that students do not need to learn them at a later time

and possibly take their focus off of preparing for a career. Normalizing the idea that it’s okay to

be imperfect and raising standards can motivate students to try harder, as good grades will feel

more rewarding to them. Lastly, teaching skills necessary for adult life will benefit students in

their careers and allow them to have an easier time living on their own. Doing these types of

activities and teaching skills in school classes can ease transition to adulthood while creating

full-fledged and independent workers to add to the world.

Works Cited

Chen, Grace. "Are Public School Students Prepared for the 'Real World?'" Public School Review,

30 Apr. 2018, www.publicschoolreview.com/blog/are-public-school-students-prepared-

for-the-real-world. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

Guise, Steven. "How School Trains Us to Fail in the Real World." Steven Guise,

stephenguise.com/how-school-trains-us-to-fail-in-the-real-world/. Accessed 23 Oct.

2020.

Moser, Laura. “We're Graduating More Students Than Ever, but Are They Prepared for Life

After High School?” Slate Magazine, Slate, 5 Apr. 2016, slate.com/human-

interest/2016/04/high-school-students-aren-t-prepared-for-college-and-careers-says-

education-trust-study.html.

Sanchez, Jasmyn. “High School Students Discover They Are Not Prepared for College.”

Mountaineer, 16 Feb. 2019, shsnews.org/23233/opinion/high-school-students-discover-

they-are-not-prepared-for-college.

Toe, Annabelle, et al. "Teenagers Need to Learn Life Skills in High School, Because Many

Aren't Learning at Home." The Dallas Morning News [Dallas, TX],

www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/05/17/teenagers-need-to-learn-life-

skills-in-high-school-because-many-aren-t-learning-at-home/. Accessed 17 May 2019.