The Lowering of Standards in Our Education System
This assignment was created by students at The City College of New York for the Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar, Web Discourse. Students are researching a social issue in one of four large topics: Urban Life, Public Health, Immigration, and Education. This will result in a final research paper that explores both how the conversations surrounding the issue are enacted and how a CCNY student may enter that conversation in a meaningful way.
I would like to write my final research paper on the lowering of standards in our education system. I decided to choose this topic after doing one of my Ning posts on an article about Seattle public schools lowering their graduation requirements. This article raised my awareness on the subject not only at a local level (in Seattle) but how this may be affecting students nationwide. Before doing a post about this article, I haven’t put as much thought into the topic, but after writing about it I realized it is a very important one.
Although not an area I currently have an extensive knowledge on, I would like to find out more about through further research. And apart from more information and statistics, I would also like my research to provide me with new perspectives on the issue I may not have previously considered. Also, besides finding more sources on my view of lowering standards in education being a negative concern, I would like to find some on opposing viewpoints since it is important to acknowledge both sides of an argument.
I feel there is a countless amount of negative effects that would come from lowering standards. Through various sources and some opinions of my own I would like to elaborate on these in my paper. I would mention not only the possible negative consequences that would occur but also what causes schools to lower expectations in the first place (such as threats to funding, etc.) I would like to write about not only the short effects but also how this might overall hurt students in the long run.
I would also like to write about this topic because after reading the article and analyzing it, I realized lowered standards have played a part in my own life, for the worse. During high school, I have had my fair share of teachers who quite clearly lowered their expectations of students for a variety of reasons; whether it is to pass a test, pass the class, or even to have poorly performing students get the ability to graduate. They may have viewed it as helpful to the student, but I feel it was done mostly for the teachers’ self-interests. Many subjects were of no challenge for me, and I felt this left me under-prepared for college and I know I am not the only one. This is also something I might want to mention in my paper.
Comments
As someone who is extremely passionate about education, I am very interested in your research project. I'm a bit familiar with this area: as I'm currently working on a research project similar to yours, I've come across an array of literature regarding sociological studies that suggest high expectations lead to high achievements.
However, this isn't as easy as it seems. Coming from a high school where the majority of students and their families are from minority, low-income, poor-working classes, it is difficult for a student to simply attain a four year university degree just because someone expects them to do so.
In my opinion, significant resources must be allocated to better prepare and help students meet these higher expectations. A simple expectation of student's achievements does not suffice--we all need help once in a while.
Depending on the direction you are planning to take your project, it may be helpful to consider your topic through different perspectives: What specific group(s) of students are you considering? Students of color? Low-income? Students from affluent communities? Another very important question to consider: why are standards being lowered in the first place?
Posted by: Carlos Guzman | October 20, 2009 12:05 PM
This seems like an interesting topic, especially for students recently coming out of the high school system. Coming from the Seattle area myself, I have seen and experienced some of this 'lowering of standards' that you mention. It is a complicated question, though. In the case of Washington State schools, part of the 'lowering of standards' recently is the phasing out of the standardized state test, called WASL. As students were not able to meet some of the basic standards of the test, however low, the standards were lowered until the test was eliminated from the graduation requirement. Personally, I think that this change will be for the better; for although the change may lower standards, standards that are ineffective—like the WASL, which held back low students and gave advanced students boring classes—are better relaxed than enforced. Standards must be as wise as they are high if they are to be effective.
Of course, being prepared for college is a good thing, but we need a system that can truly assist the accelerated student as well as the delayed ones. Indeed, many of the skills that are necessary in college may be learned independently.
Good luck with your topic.
TF Pauly
Stanford University
Posted by: TF Pauly | October 20, 2009 12:08 PM
This seems like an interesting topic, especially for students recently coming out of the high school system. Coming from the Seattle area myself, I have seen and experienced some of this 'lowering of standards' that you mention. It is a complicated question, though. In the case of Washington State schools, part of the 'lowering of standards' recently is the phasing out of the standardized state test, called WASL. As students were not able to meet some of the basic standards of the test, however low, the standards were lowered until the test was eliminated from the graduation requirement. Personally, I think that this change will be for the better; for although the change may lower standards, standards that are ineffective—like the WASL, which held back low students and gave advanced students boring classes—are better relaxed than enforced. Standards must be as wise as they are high if they are to be effective.
Of course, being prepared for college is a good thing, but we need a system that can truly assist the accelerated student as well as the delayed ones. Indeed, many of the skills that are necessary in college may be learned independently.
Good luck with your topic.
TF Pauly
Stanford University
Posted by: TF Pauly | October 20, 2009 12:08 PM
This is an interesting topic. You have taken into consideration a lot of the different aspects of the lowering standards conversation. Right now the topic is very broad and I think there are many smaller pieces of the conversation you could focus on. For example you could look at achievement gaps and whether standards are constant throughout a school or are lowered for certain groups. I think the effect of lowering standards on your life is a good thing to have in your paper. Most of the conversation I have seen about lowering standards has been held between politicians and academics, and I think you have the opportunity to add to the conversation from a less vocal and very important perspective. I'm curious to see what you find during your research. Good Luck!
Taylor Coles
Stanford University student
Posted by: Taylor Coles | October 26, 2009 09:44 AM