Here I Stand

Here I stand.... alive. The huge pile of work to be done has (almost) magically transfered into the finished prodect (although I know it isn't magic because I remember ALL the work I put into it - including two 18-hour days. Now I only have to make sure the stuff is printed off and handed in on Tuesday.

Standing ovation anyone? :P

But anyways, I'm still really sorry I haven't done any writing... I promise I'm going to open the file now and write a little bit. I'll post an excerpt from InVincible tomorrow (or, if you want me to work on something else just tell me... I'm in the mood to write, no specifications of what).

Hey, how about I post you the ending bit of my 3R (Retell, Relate, Reflect) for the article "Profs Blast Lazy First-Year Students"? It's kinda current and interesting... and it's an excerpt, I guess (although I won't label it as one).

Here you go:

......An editorial in the Barrie Examiner backs that all up. Ouropinion, as the authors call themselves, says "four years isn't long enough." And that already, even before the change in the high schools, ""Many teenagers weren't mature enough for the high school grade they're in, whatever it might be. And the reason is they're teenagers. They're still growing up. They are not mature, and it's both unrealistic and unfair to expect them [to behave like adults]."

It’s also unfair for the professors to have to teach from “an underresourced secondary school system.” Because of the high schools recent focus in “stemming high-school dropouts, punctuality and discipline are no longer reinforced.” That’s not good for the universities, who are afraid to fail students as they “are funded by a per-student basis”.

An obvious fix, as Danish Zakir says, is for there to be “an initiation program in high school to prepare them for university”. But even still, the plan to cut the 13th grade and save money for Canada is actually costing more, as the provincial government announces their new funding plans, including $780 million for infrastructure and an immediate $150 million for universities and colleges.

But regardless of which side you choose to take, whether blaming the students, the universities, high schools or just simply the generation, Kristen has been sure to show us all sides of the argument. She even added in a bit on the last page about colleges having the same difficulties. “Colleges, too, report troubles with unprepared students, especially in math, and have each developed their own way to deal with it.” No side has gone unspoken for, even though the actual speaking wasn’t the greatest. It seems that adults may be going through some of the problems the students are - Wikipedia is open to all, text messaging from cell phones blackberries is just as common in high school as in an office - the effects of that, you can see even in this article. The title only begins with a capitol, and transitions between on subject and side to another is choppy, and the ending… if it wasn’t for the “with files from Henry Stancu” at the bottom, people might not even know that the article ended and wasn’t just miss-copied.

Coming from part of the Wikipedia generation and knowing how badly other students are handling it makes me want to try harder to overcome the difficulties myself - but that’s not the same for everyone. As Jessica Whitehead says in the article “First Year Students Getting Lazier, Profs Say”, by Brent Davis of The Record, “I think we’re fairly spoon-fed through high school.” I think the same goes for all grades, even in kindergarten. There will always be those kids in your class whose parents help them in everything. Their parents tell them what to do and help them with every step of the way. My parents don’t, simply because they thing I’m mature enough to handle stuff on my own. But I’m not saying I’m perfect and will be one of those aces through everything - I struggle in a lot of stuff and know I will struggle more in years to come. The difference between my grades and the grades and lives of those who have extra help when they don’t need it is that they will struggle more - or, as it seems some or the time, will never struggle because they will always have help.

I think someone, in university, college, high school or something in between, needs to stop this before it’s too late. Before long, no one will know how to work themselves and education will never be the same after that. People always want the easier way, but now with that way being just a click on your computer or a knock on a door away, it’s easier and easier to just take marks you don’t have.

The students in universities are discovering this, and the only way to break the chain is to start now, get some people to help teach children to actually do work, and discourage parents from doing it for them. With little kids doing so much work by themselves, older people may see a way for them to get the sometimes impossible amount of work done. Then when the children grow up and hit universities, they will be ready.

But in order for that to happen, there needs to be some sort of stepping-stone. Right now, high schools are concentrating on stemming high school dropouts - the ones who are staying in aren’t getting the congratulations they need while their peers get extra time and output less effort, all for the same results.

It may seem harder on everyone, but eventually things will get under control and this “Wikipedia generation” may still be hooked on Wiki, but their kids wont.

link to original article: http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/614219#Comments


P.S. New iCarly episode today! I don't get the channel it's on though so I'm crossing my fingers it's gunna be online ASAP. :) toodeloo