The shock for entering college students

 Stanly Fish a writer for the New York Times wrote a column discussing the problems in English curriculum in grade school. Many students entering college have little to no background in writing essays. You would think a student with 13 years of public education would have so level of skill in terms of writing an essay. Stanly argues that this problem going down to how teaching curriculums are formed and a students living environment. Many schools are already struggling financially have to educate millions of students on how be prepared to write in college. Reading novel and doing creative writing could be a possible alternative to the poor educational system in America but this is generally not the most entertaining activity for most students. Children at that age often would choose to be entertained than learn. Many teachers lack of motivation do not inspire kids on the values of learning. With that students need to show a level of effort to show that they want to become successful entering college.

I generally agree with Fish’s points made to improve the learning environment of schools. Fish really explains this by stating, “But what about just doing a lot of reading and hoping that by passing your eyes over pages you learn how to write through osmosis?” This is all true in a sense however there is more of an issue. For many of the students I have come across during my time at the writer’s at The Ohio State University at Newark do not have an issue in terms of preparation but how to utilize their resources from the major life change coming to college. Entering freshman that I have met are not somehow completely lazy people and do not want to do any work. Going to college is an

exciting thing for these students and want to learn and experience new things. Going into college however is a big change. Many students seem have feelings of shock. Compared to the small environment of high school and how big college can seem to be to these students it can be scary. These fears then could lead to not using tools given to students that college provide like tutoring sessions or lab group study sessions. This all could then culminate for a student to do poorly in whatever particular writing class they are in. This could even be a bigger shock for foreign minorities or lower income people. Coming from a different country or a small town and entering a big university can bit overwhelming for these students. Vicki Madden in her New York Times column stated, “Kids at the most selective colleges often struggle academically, but they are capable of doing the work. The real key is whether they feel comfortable going to professors to ask for help or teaming up with other students in study groups and to manage the workload.”

So how should these problem be fix to help better a college freshman’s early academic career? Students show first speak out on these issues for help. Many students often hide these feeling do to embarrassment or pride. College admissions consolers should address these issues to students wanting to enter their university. Parents should also help students out in these situations. Many feel that since your child is 18 they can bare these problems on their own. Instead parents’ guide their kids so that once they are ready can work on their own.