In today’s society many students experience obstacles, troubles, andfailure. However, the obstacles, troubles, and failure derive from ourirresponsible schools and families. When people think about schools in oursociety they perceive it to be a non-challenging atmosphere. Some studentsdiscover school to be very hard and mind boggling, when other studentsperceive school to be the worst thing on earth. Our schools tend to groupstudents based on their age and expected ability rather than placementtesting. By using the placement test it allows schools to challengestudents at a more personal level. The placement test also benefits theteachers or professors because the material can be taught at a steadierpace and level. Therefore, I will provide many examples of how the schoolsand families set their expectances at such a low standard.
Why or why not? Can stress really be a factor in low expectations?Not only is it stressful for the parents but also, it is stressful for kidswhen they are expected of too much. This may be the answer to why parentswant kids to act more independent. Many parents have a lot ofresponsibility as it is; so staying less involved in their kid’s day-to-dayschedule is one less thing to worry about for a parent. Then there arealways the kids who try to get more involved in school, but really cantbecause of the lack of communication between them and their parents. Self-image can pay a toll on low expectancy. From what I have seen in the past,teachers want to look good so if they show good grades it really doesn’tmatter who is being challenged. This also goes for the parents. Parentswho see good grades leave it at that, instead of expecting more.
Could parents setting low expectations on their kids result fromfinding the easy way out?Many parents want their kids to take life by the hands and only deal withsomething when they are faced with it. Some say this is the easy way out,but some may say this is how life should be lived. This results in kidsbeing left without any responsibility. Why do something when you don’thave to? It’s all about following the older and wiser.
With teachers or professors having such a very low expectance of thestudents, it allows students to lack the knowledge they need. Resultingfrom these casual but un-noticed habits students become bored and un-interested in learning. For instance, McQuillan states “teachers expectlittle of students.” The materials being taught to the students are moreor less hurting our society rather than helping the society become moreintelligent. However the teachers or professors are not taking the extramile to teach, instead of explaining and assigning an assignment to see ifthe students comprehend what the discussion was about. Through time,teachers and professors segregate students into groups by their age, colorof skin, and even their gender. Such as, how Steele says, “less and lesshas been asked of black students, and weaker and weaker performance hasbeen allowed to count for them-social promotion in K-12 and lower standardsfor college admission than for other groups.” As a result, teachers andprofessors are cheating the students and obstructing the society by nottaking the responsibilities to set higher expectances for the students toachieve.
Throughout my twelve years of school I have noticed various studentsand friends of mine that have families with low expectances. Some of theexpectances are very obvious. Such as how parents are not takingresponsibility to set goals for their children and even set curfews. Wellin my case I had the advantage of the high expectations that my parents setfor me. So when I hung out with friends I noticed lots of irresponsibleparents. A lot of irresponsibility came from my friends telling me whatthey did last night or what party they got busted at. But that is not evenclose to the edge of what these kids were not expected of. These kidswould skip class, show up late to school, and have the tendency to be tardyto class and their parents would not care. By noticing these obviousproblems I have grown up realizing that families don’t expect much out oftheir kids. With the low expectance in the household, this causes severalproblems for the student to excel in school. This problem relates back tothe article by McQuillan of how Rafael Jackson skipped school and classes.
As one may notice this is an on going problem that has been going on formany generations.
Not only, parents having low expectations but unfortunately schoolsare having low expectations for students also. In today’s society, schoolsare turning school into a non-competitive atmosphere. The schools areallowing kids to pass classes with failing grades and this results toteachers pushing the kids through school with no education. Pushing kidsthrough school with no education will only stall our society and economybecause later our future pursuers will only be qualified to work atMcDonalds. Therefore, if today’s students are being passed with failinggrades then it allows the student to slack off in school. Therefore, thestudents then believe it is ok to skip class, be tardy, and drop out. Forinstance McQuillan says, “I’ve got those teachers wrapped around my littlefinger.” The author is saying that students get their way because teachersor professors have very low expectations for them. Teachers or professorsalso show low expectations for students by allowing the students to pass onto the next grade without the student attending the class or not doing allthe required work. Unfortunately, schools are hindering the studentsbecause the schools are consistently lowering the standards forrequirements and also lowering the SAT and ACT scores for admittance tocolleges. Such as how junior colleges lowered their standards to excepteverybody into college. On the other hand, it is good for the juniorcolleges to lower their standards but they should at least require each andevery person to take a placement test for admittance into the college. Inmy own belief, professors at a junior college should set the standardsequal with any four-year school. Meaning that the professors should notallow any classes to be easier at a junior college level than any four-yearcollege.
On the other hand, my theory maybe wrong. I really haven’t spent alot of time with professors to get their intake on challenges. However, Iam not old enough nor have kids of my own to expect anything from them.
All I have is my personal experience and knowledge that what I have read.
Some schools may not set standards for enrollment and graduation. However,some schools may set high standards for kids. In my opinion I feel thatschools, families, and professors should all challenge the kids of ourfuture to reach there maximum goals in life.
All in all, the kids of today are the future. With the obstacles,troubles, and failure students overcome each day, it all falls back on theschools system and families. With what has been proven with these facts,it is obvious that students may never really pursue their goals and reachfor the future they long to endure. With a stronger teacher to studentratio, students may then only be considered challenged. This can alsoderive at home with more quality time between a parental figure and theirchild. With teachers and professors not performing their job that they areasked upon, results in unfinished business. So by forcing the schools orcolleges to take the next step to increase the expectance level, willresult in students taking the next level in life. Unfortunately, it allcomes down to school systems are just to busy working with students as awhole and parents just don’t have enough time.
