Do you think that high school seniors should be required to apply to at least one college before being allowed to graduate high school?
The Hand of John
2007/10/23 13:27:46
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5 votes
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42 votes
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2 votes
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9 votes
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In Maine the Secretary of Education wants to mandate college applications before allowing high school graduations. What do you think of this?
Top Opinion
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whatever 2007/10/23 13:30:37No, Enough with all the requirements already you silly, silly woman!
+8WHY? What if this person can not afford college and wants to join the military? Who is she to decide what these kids are going to do. I can understand her wanting to get them interested in further education but it is the wrong way. you can lead a horse to water but can not make it drink.
it is far too complicated an issue to have a blanket requirement. they should encourage students to follow their dreams and be creative, not just apply to college.
Entrance requirements need to be tightened badly. For traditional students, right out of high school, there shouldn't be any algebra or composition classes taught. Those are requirements for high school graduation and it's perfectly reasonable to expect you can already do these things and demonstrate that you can before getting in. If you can't? There's tech school (out of which you'll likely make more money anyway) and apprenticeship programs should be brought back. A college degree should never have become the modern HS diploma that it has.
By mandating that students participate in the application process, the schools could gain access to useful artifacts that could show students are or are not meeting learning outcomes in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. All of these skills could be assessed in an application process and would NOT be high stakes, standardized testing. . .the more I think about it, the more I like it!
Please let me clarify a couple of things:
1-- By capturing information about students' skills sets, I am not suggesting individual data be assessed. I am saying that this information could give the local community a snap shot of how well the children are doing.
2-- I woud quibble with the phrasing "crude and sadistic." Aren't high school graduate going to have to go forth into the world and weather things far more challenging than a college application. I would concede the point that there would need to be some work around in terms of exorbitant application fees many colleges and universities charge. But that is another matter. In my mind, the idea of college application is far less ego threatening than applying for a job.
3-- Just because a high school student does not gain entry into his or her college of choice does not mean it is "too late to help them." Many community colleges around the country have a tradition of open door. Therefore, even if the student does not meet benchmarks for entry to his/her college of choice, a couple of semesters at the local community coll...
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Please let me clarify a couple of things:
1-- By capturing information about students' skills sets, I am not suggesting individual data be assessed. I am saying that this information could give the local community a snap shot of how well the children are doing.
2-- I woud quibble with the phrasing "crude and sadistic." Aren't high school graduate going to have to go forth into the world and weather things far more challenging than a college application. I would concede the point that there would need to be some work around in terms of exorbitant application fees many colleges and universities charge. But that is another matter. In my mind, the idea of college application is far less ego threatening than applying for a job.
3-- Just because a high school student does not gain entry into his or her college of choice does not mean it is "too late to help them." Many community colleges around the country have a tradition of open door. Therefore, even if the student does not meet benchmarks for entry to his/her college of choice, a couple of semesters at the local community college could re-sharpen the skills and get the student prepared for transfer to this school of choice.
4-- Within 5-7 years, the demographics are going to change and many universities will be bending over backward to take students who by today's standards would be marginal for admission. What some demographers call the "echo of the baby boom" will flatten out high school graduation numbers and the colleges and universities around the country will be forced to go deeper into their applicant pool to fill freshman classes.
Read Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America." She shows how low skill/low wage jobs won't allow a person to make it in America today. . .and this book was published in 2001--well before the current recession we are facing right now!
im a senior right now and there is enough stress that goes along with senior year without have another graduation requirement!
Not everybody is destined to go to college. Some will go to technical schools, some will go to trade schools and some will just join the workforce with the benefits of a high school education. There is nothing wrong with this.
that 12th graders start applying to several colleges. That is not a
requirement and doesn't prevent students from graduating.