Category: High School Vs College

The thought of graduating from high school and getting admission to a college may excite you. Because what’s more fun than meeting new people and enjoying Greek life at college, right? Yet, little do you know that these four years are not less than the most stressful time of your adulthood. You’d be transitioning from being carefree to a responsible adult, there are several challenges you have to face and fears to overcome. One of them is the difference in writing practices of high school and college.

Now, you must be wondering how hard it can be and that writing has always stayed the same. However, you will not understand this now, but once you start penning down, you’ll see the differences. Moreover, you may have observed that most of the students run away from writing assignments and papers. Although they tend to avoid each writing activity, it plays a great role in college success.

If you are not ready to compose tons of assignments, reports, and proposals, get started now. This guide will help you understand the basics and prepare you for the writing challenges that are yet to come.

1. Make Books Your Best Friend

The simplest way to improve your writing skills is to read. Most of the students are not avid readers and consider it boring when they spend 6 hours learning different courses at school. What they don’t understand is that studying with other students is dissimilar to studying alone. It lets you focus on the structure, word choices, and formatting along with other important writing variables. You must make reading your habit as it works subconsciously. The genre of the material does not matter as long as you study something each day. However, always keep a check of how the author has approached the audience.

2. Study the Writing Process

Just like unprepared students get drowned easily in the challenges, anxieties and stresses of the college life, poor writers don’t stick around for too long either. The writing standards in college is higher than in colleges and high schools. If you think you can survive with your school writing skills, you are in the wrong. This is why, to ensure that you are fully prepared to produce premium quality content, follow the below stated steps.

• Plan and Prewrite

Writing is a task that you cannot do in a disturbing environment. For this reason, you will have to sit peacefully, brainstorm ideas and design a structure in your mind. Once you think you have done enough research, you can start scribbling to remember the key points.

• Draft

After planning and generating ideas, start writing your first draft of the topic. The first try doesn’t need to be perfect. It is usual to repeat this step several times until the content meets your requirements and standards. In the end, pat yourself on the back for not losing motivation and composing a polished piece.

• Re-read and Edit

Here comes the most daunting part that every student dreads, proofreading and editing or revising the written content. It is not necessary to edit it on the same day when you have finished writing. You can plan your revisions making sure they are set before the deadline. This phase will help you identify the minor as well as major mistakes and further polish your documents to perfection. Your teachers, editors or advisors can also help you in this.

3. Think Strategically and Critically

While high school writing is all about presenting your opinions, ideas and takes on everyday matters, college writing is a lot different. Professors require up to the standard papers composed after thorough research including correct analysis and supporting arguments. In short, they want to know the primary purpose behind the piece with strong reasons. You can only achieve this by putting the critical thinking cap on and conduct in-depth research and consideration. In case you need guidance, you can get help from your instructors to set you on the right track.

4. Don’t Always Follow a Template Structure

You must have been taught about the five paragraphs technique in your high school. The introduction with three supporting body sections and a conclusion in the end, right? However, college writing demands creativity and this can only happen when you know the basics of design and composition of the content. So, it can either be less or more than five paras. To master this, you need to look up at the topic in a different light. In short, ignore the traditional practices and work according to your requirements.

5. Polish Your Writing Skills

Your content has little to no worth if it has grammatical errors, wrong vocabulary, colloquialism or wordiness. The originality of the work does matter as well. To ensure that your work is of top-notch quality, you must take lessons about sentence structuring, formatting, punctuation, conjunction and other factors that make a paper worthwhile. On the other hand, you can also subscribe to an online English magazines, watch Hollywood movies, or simply read a books to boost your writing skills. Doing this would make you position yourself on top and improving; getting praises from the professor.

We know the transition from the high school to college is tempting but the barriers that would come in between would make it a bit dreadful. Half of the students’ life is spent trying to excel in writing assignments to get higher grades. These five tricks can help you prepare yourself for content writing in college.

High school is said to be a time in your life that will forever be remembered. For seniors, college application deadlines are fast approaching and once accepted, they start looking for places to live in. Living far away from home is not easy as ABC. It requires a person to be responsible for their actions, make sound decisions and have good time management but most importantly, they need to manage their finances well. Youths have a long time ahead of them which means that decisions they made would impact their lives for a long period of time (Garg and Singh 173). Financial Literacy is important because it helps people save more and spend less, leading to a better financial stability.

Studies have shown that many college students are struggling in managing their money and some are even spending their money in whatever way they want. ”College students are becoming less responsible with their money” (Bidwell). Various research conducted in different countries all over the world have shown that many young adults were having difficulties in managing their money and having income stability due to the lack of financial literacy, leading them to be precarious financially (“Importance of Financial Literacy”). This means that the reason why many people, especially young adults, which includes college students are spending money impulsively is that they lack financial literacy. Financial literacy is defined by Jump$tart as the application of one’s ability to efficiently manage one’s wealth to obtain long lasting financial stability and capability (Sarigul). By improving their financial literacy, the students would be able to manage their money well. Being financially literate means that they would be able to not only save more money by spending less, they would also learn more about ways to make money grow. An example would be placing their money in a savings account instead of putting it in piggy banks for safekeeping. By placing the money in a savings account, not only would it grow due to interest but it would also be safe and can be accessed anytime you need it compared to piggy banks where money can’t even grow. Learning how to save and spend your money wisely will not harm you and it will also help you make informed and wise financial decisions that will help you in the years to come to obtain stability.

Acquiring proper debt management, savings and budgeting skills are important because the cost of going to college is increasing at a rate faster than inflation.This leads to students and their parents to plan for college as soon as possible and to be able to understand the concepts behind financial aid and manage student loans effectively (Lusardi 269). Aside from college fees, housing and food, and even daily allowances are also part of the expenses to consider in planning for college. In a survey by Everfi and Higher One, students in 2014 are more likely to manage their finances, have credit cards but not having a higher-level of financial literacy to handle their money well (Bidwell). Which means that even if the students are in charge of their finances, they are unable to have a budget plan in mind to properly regulate their finances.

The lack of financial literacy is quite alarming because this may lead the young adults to face higher level of financial problems which may significantly affect their present and future family and their professional life (Sarigul). Some of these problems would be managing their loans, budgeting and differentiating wants from needs, and even planning for the future like retirement. Being financially literate would help in solving these problems because they would distinguish between wants and needs, reducing the expenses brought by purchasing too much. This is especially so, because the authority to invest and save has transferred from the government and even the parents to individuals (Garg and Singh 173). Which means that a person is responsible for their own money. They have the authority to spend in whatever way they want, using credit cards to shop repeatedly, and even taking out loans to buy cars and houses not within their financial capacity which therefore increases their debt. This will affect them badly in the long run.

Youngsters should be considered as an important target for financial education (Fraczek and Klimontowicz 76). This is because Agarwal et. al, “show that financial mistakes are most prevalent among the young and the elderly” (qtd. in Lusardi 269). Thus, measures to educate the youth should be taken, such as, having the initiative to have finance courses in schools in order to educate them early. U.S. has already implemented financial education programs over the years. An example would be the U.S. states mandating financial education in different points in time (Lusardi and Mitchell). However, only some states have done this, seventeen to be exact, mandating high school students to take finance courses in the 2018 survey (“Survey of the States”). This goes to show that there is still a lack of awareness about the importance of financial literacy, even among the federal government of other states. Financial literacy should be in high school or maybe even earlier in order to prepare them for the time when they will manage their finances on their own. Doing this will improve one’s financial well-being and lessen their spending and increasing their savings.

There is a significant lack of college readiness among high school students. There have been many identifiable causes for this lack of preparedness. One such cause is a lack of alignment between the high school curriculum and college level coursework. For my review, I searched for research instruments that look at academic performance in high school, as it relates to college preparedness. Keywords used were college readiness, curriculum alignment, high school GPA and college performance.

Academic preparedness refers to academic knowledge and skills that students need to succeed in doing college-level work, in other words – to be “college ready.” There is a substantial, yet undeniable, differences between being eligible for college and being ready for college. We witness these differences each semester as advisors to first year college students. Students graduate high school with enough credits to register for college, but still lack the academic skills and/or study habits, to succeed. Across America, students increasingly leave high school unready for college (Choy, Horn, Nuñez, & Chen, 2000; Jackson, 2009). Some studies estimate that only ten percent of eighth graders are on a path to graduate from high school without the need for remedial work in college (Wimberly & Noeth, 2005). America’s public universities are investing in upwards of one billion dollars annually to remediate at least one-third of their freshman population (Bettinger & Long, 2009). Studies show that the following K-12 academic indicators can predict college attendance: 1) standardized test participation and scores; 2) courses taken; and 3) course performance, including GPA. Beyond the need for students to simply be prepared for the rigors of the college classroom, the ability to produce college-ready students carries significant social and economic consequences in the United States. Based on that sobering reality, it is imperative that we find ways to bridge this gap. In this literature review, I examine findings on college readiness, as it relates to academic preparedness in the high school classroom.

The first identified indicator for successful college attendance is standardized test participation and the scores of those tests. Research conducted by Avery and Kane (2004) analyzed participants in a college outreach program. Their research suggested that students who completed major testing milestones by fall of their senior year of high school were more likely to attend a four-year college. It was determined that students with ACT scores above 18 were more likely to enroll in college than students with lower scores. Like ACTs, SATs also predict similar postsecondary outcomes. While test scores are a key identifying factor in college enrollment, one major issue that has been identified is that state tests are often not aligned with college standards. Brown and Conley (2007) analyzed the content of state tests relative to academic standards and skills necessary for entry-level postsecondary courses and discovered that 60 math and English secondary assessments from 20 states were only marginally aligned with postsecondary standards.

The second identified indicator for successful college attendance is courses taken at the high school level. Studies have found that providing more rigorous courses during the high school years can influence students’ college readiness (Herlihy, 2007; Lee & Burkham, 2000). Things such as enrollment in Advance Placement (AP) courses predicts higher levels of college enrollment. For instance, Leonard (2010) showed that, when lower-performing students enter college with college credits including AP courses, they prove less likely to need remediation. Among other indicators, completing a course and taking the exam was the most significant indicator of postsecondary attendance (Dougherty, Mellor & Jian, 2006). Students entering college having passed AP exams often had higher first-year GPAs than those students entering college with dual or no college credit (Elmers & Mullen, 2003). Because of these findings, many school districts are drastically increasing AP course taking, with the unfortunate result of watered down content of the courses which, in turn, reduces their accuracy as determining factors of college readiness (Conley, 2007). Based on such conerns, it is critical that schools monitor their own effectiveness in supporting college readiness. Course performance, especially extremely poor performance, predicts college outcomes (Geiser & Santelices, 2007; Kane, 2002; Noble & Sawyer, 2004). Failures in core courses are frequently a key indicator of future academic problems.

The final identified indicator for successful college attendance is actual course performance and GPA. GPA proves a strong predictor of both college achievement and persistence (Geiser & Santelices, 2007; Noble & Sawyer, 2004). A study conducted in the University of California system showed that GPA was the best predictor of achievement during freshman year (Geiser & Santelices, 2007). High school GPA was also a better predictor of college GPA than ACT scores for students with lower grades (Noble & Sawyer, 2004). A word of caution that has been noted in research is that, like AP courses, GPA has lost true power to predict student outcomes due to grade inflation intended to facilitate students’ admission to college (Conley, 2007). For instance, a “B” today is the equivalent of a “C” thirty years ago. This goes along with all of the research that indicates that grades are rising as many other measures of college readiness decline (Conley, 2007). In addition, research shows that grading standards vary significantly not only among schools and districts, but also among teachers within a school (Nunley, Shartle-Galotto, & Smith).

Research suggests that grades and GPA are a much better indicator than standardized test scores because grades capture students’ effort and study skills Grade-point average factors in, not only academic skills, but a variety of non-cognitive factors, like motivation, that are vital to postsecondary achievement (Kaplan, D.S., Peck, & Kaplan, 1997; Kennely & Monrad, 2007). Further, grades allowed students, including those from populations considered at risk of not attending college, to demonstrate perseverance, which correlated with success in postsecondary settings (Dille & Mezack, 1991).

References

1. Achieve. (2011). Closing the Expectations Gap: 6th Annual 50-State Progress Report on the Alignment of High School Policies with the Demands of College and Careers. Washington, DC: Achieve, American Diploma Project Network.
2. Avery, C., & Kane, T.J. (2004). Student Perceptions of College Opportunities. The Boston COACH Program. In C. Hoxby (Ed.), College Choices: The Economics of Where to Go, When to Go, and How to Pay for It (pp. 355-394). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
3. Bettinger, E.P., & Long, B.T. (2009). Addressing the needs of under-prepared students in higher education: Does college remediation work? Journal of Human Resources.
4. Brown, R.S., & Conley, D. (2007). Comparing state high school assessments to standards for success in entry-level university courses. Educational Assessment 12(2), 137-60.
5. Choy, S. P., Horn, L. J., Nuñez, A. M., & Chen, X. (2000). Transition to college: What helps at risk students and students whose parents did not attend college. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2000, 107, 45–63.
6. Conley, D. T. (2007a). College Readiness Practices at 38 High Schools and the Development of the College Career Ready School Diagnostic Tool. Eugene, OR: Education Policy Improvement Center.
7. Conley, D. T. (2007b). Redefining College Readiness, Vol. 3. Eugene, OR: Education Policy Improvement Center.
8. Conley, D. T. (2008). Rethinking college readiness. New Directions for Higher Education, 144, 3–13.
9. Dougherty, C., Mellor, L., & Jian, S. (2006). The Relationship between Advanced Placement and College Graduation. Washington, DC: National Center for Educational Accountability.
10. Dille, B., & Mezack, M. (1991). Identifying predictors of high risk among community college telecourse students. American Journal of Distance Education, 5(1), 24-35.
11. Elmers, M.T., & Mullen, R. (2003). Dual credit and advanced placement: Do they help prepare students for success in college?
12. Geiser, S., & Santelices, M.C. (2007). Validity of High-school Grades in Predicting Student Success Beyond the Freshman Year: High-School Record vs. Standardized Tests as Indicators of Four-Year College Outcomes. Berkeley, CA: University of California, Center for Studies in Higher Education..
13. Herlihy, C. (2007). State and district-level supports for successful transition into high school. Washington, DC: National High School Center.
14. Jackson, C. K. (2009). A stitch in time: Evaluating the effects of an AP incentive program on college outcomes. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University.
15. Kennelly, L., & Monrad, M. (2007). Approaches to dropout prevention: Heeding early warning signs with appropriate interventions. Washington, DC: National High School Center, American Institutes for Research.

Introduction

Schools want their students to be superior in their academic performance. Efforts are done and resources are utilized by schools just to make sure that the students received the best education they deserved since best education will prepare them for better job.

Study had shown that school factors affect job performance as manager. As the study of Howard (1986) discovered that performance of a person as a manager was accounted by some factors and among them is college major (which is one of the schooling factor). It is important to know what make students superior in their academic performance, hoping that it could contribute to their performance in their work. Some factors might affect the academic performance of the students. However, those factors still need to be identified. This study intend to answer this problem.

The study is intended to find out whether the following factors significantly contribute to the superior performance of students in their master in management program: (1) IQ, (2) College major, and (3) School of origin. Further, the study intend to discover the extend of the above factors on the superior performance of the students.

One of the main limitation of the study is the sampling technique used. The sampling technique make used of stratified convinience sampling. The use of random sampling is suprior to the convinience sampling. However, by selecting respondents from the same school could eliminate the difference of teaching method and teacher factors that might affect school performance.

Review of Related Studies

Several studies had been done in relation to the performances of students.

The Effect of Intelligence

One factor that had strong effect on academic performance was student intelligence or more specifically known as intelligence quotient (IQ).

The study of Nonis et al. (2005) indicated that College Testing Assessments (ACT) significantly correlate with academic performance of the students. ACT is one of the entrance examination, as it is well known that most of the college entrance examination used by business school measure student intelligent. Another study by Cushing et al. (2004) from a university’s MBA program found out that applicants exhibit a higher correlation between test scores and undergraduate GPAs. This study understate the importance of GMAT (general management admission test) scores as one indicator of IQ in predicting performance of potential MBA (master in business administration) students. However, GMAT as one of the entrance examination as ACT that measure intelligent which according to the study of Nonis et al. (2005) significantly correlated.

Prior Educational Background

Although some of the personal characteristics were found to be related with academic performance, Win & Miller (2005) study discovered that previous schools had impact too on academic performance. The study of Win & Miller (2005) to the first year students at the University of Western Australia discovered that high schools had an impact on the academic performance of students at university beyond students’ own background characteristics. While another study indicated that personality very likely affects academic performance (Conley & Simon, 1993).

In other words, the undergraduate educational background of students entering graduate school then is expected to have effect. The study of Hartnett, Romcke & Yap (2004) on university accounting students discovered that statistically significant relationships were observed between accounting performance and accounting study prior to university. This study was supported by the study of anonymous (1996) that accounting result of a student who studied accounting previously is higher than that of a student who did not study accounting at high school. It seems that the education background of previous study might effect the academic performance of the next education level.

The Effect of other Personal Characteristics

Some studies indicated that personal characteristics of students affect their academic performance. Such personal characteristics as strive for achievement, feeling of inferiority, persistency, and initiative are the personal characteristics students. Each students has their own personal characteristics that might affect their academic performance.

Nonis, et al. (2005) studied factors that could be used to predict academic success. In their study, they discovered some predictors of academic success and most of those predictor were personal characteristics. It was found that College Testing Assessments (ACT) composite score, achievement striving, and feelings of inferiority significantly correlate with academic performance of students taking marketing education. In this study, two personal characteristics was mentioned, achievement striving and feelings of inferiority. Another study by Jaramillo & Spector (2004) on the academic performance of undergraduate marketing students discovered that persistency and initiative are positively related to effort, which is an important antecedent of academic performance. Also the study of Lee, Jamieson & Earley (1996) that achievement striving is positively related to academic performance.

Hypotheses and the Definition of Operational Terms

The following factors significantly contribute to the superior performance of students in the master in management program: IQ, College major, and School of origin. The null hypothesis, those factors have no significant contribution to the superior performance of students in the master in management program.

These are the operasional definition used in this study: IQ or Intelligence Quotion is the intelligence of the students as measured by the IQ test. College Major is the undergraduate major of the students prior to taking the master in management degree. The college major of the students is either business major or non-business major. Includes in business major are major in economics, accounting, and management. While non-business are enginerring, science, law, medical, and other social science majors. School of Origin is the school where the student’s undergraduate come from. It could either be state own college/university or private own college/university.

Methodology

This is a confirmatory, cross-sectional study. It is said confirmatory study since there are several variables need to be confirmed whether significant contribution exist. While it is said also cross-sectional study since the data was taken in the same time.

Stratified convenience sampling method is used. Population is stratified according to the school that offer graduate school in management. Conveniently, a graduate school of management in Jakarta was selected since the data is readily available. Students enrolled in that school from year 2001 to 2006 were selected. They were divided into two groups, those graduated with superior performance, and the other group are those graduated with low performance. The GPA was used as the criterion to consider whether the student belong to the superior or low performance group. Those with GPA of 3.75 or above was considered as superior performance and those with GPA of 3.24 or below was considered as low performance. Forty students have been selected for this study. They were the fulltime students that enroll from the year 2001 to 2006. Twenty students with high performance and another 20 students with low performance which make out of 40 respondents were selected.

Since the data regarding the academic performance, intelligent scores, and previous academic background are available in the registrar office of PPM Graduate School of Management, then data was taken from that office. Permision was asked from the person in-charged. Upon permitted, data was gathered.

Data was analyzed using LOGISTIC REGRESSION method of statistical analysis. SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Science) was used as computing software in data processing. The following steps was conducted: Data was inputed in SPSS worksheet; data was tested for the fitness of the model (the regression model is tested for it’s fitness/acceptance using Hosmer and Lemeshow Test. The regression model is said to be accepted for further analysis when the Hosmer and Lemeshow score is more than 0.10); and data was tested for the significance of the predictive variables (when the model is appropriate, the data regarding the predictive variables was tested. Logistic Regression Analysis is used in testing the predictive variables with the significance level of 0.05 or at the confidence level of 0.95).

Analysis and Interpretation

The Logistic Regression statistical technique is used to test the hypothesis with the significance level () of 0.05 or at the confidence level of 0.95. The model is tested for it’s significant using Hosmer and Lemeshow test. It is said to be accepted for further analysis when the Hosmer and Lemeshow score is more than 0.1.

Data was analyzed using SPSS. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test indicate a signficant (Sig.) value of 0.477 which is far above the minimum requirement of the model to be accepted for further analysis which is 0.1. In other words, the independent/criterion varables can be used to predict the dependent variable.

The significant of the independent variables were tested using the Logistic Regression model.

The result indicates that only VAR2 which is the IQ (Intelligence Quotion) that is significant with significant (Sig.) value of 0.004 which is less than significant level of 0.05. The beta coeficient of VAR2 which is the IQ of the students is known to be 0.116. The other two independent variables are found to be not significant. The significant (Sig.)value of VAR3 which is College Major is 0.314 and the significant (Sig.) value of VAR4 which is School of Origin is 0.501. Their significant values are more than significant level of 0.05 as required.

The null hypothesis that says IQ does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is REJECTED. There was a significant affect of students IQ on their academic performance in the Master in Management program. The null hypothesis that says College Major does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is ACCEPTED. There was no significant affect of undergraduate college major on their academic performance in the Master of Management program. And, the null hypothesis that says School of Origin does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is ACCEPTED. There was no significant affect of undergraduate school of origin on their academic performance in the Master in Management program.

The finding of this study consistent with the study of Nonis et al. (2005) which stated that College Testing Assessments (ACT) significantly correlate with academic performance of the students. This finding will be consistent as long as the assumption that college entrance examination such as ACT used by business school measure student intelligent. Also the study of Cushing et al. (2004) from a university’s MBA program found out that applicants exhibit a higher correlation between test scores and undergraduate GPAs.

Conclusion

The following conclusions are derived from the study: (1) The data support the hypothesis that IQ is a factor that affect the performance of the students in the MM program. (2) The data did not support the hypothesis that undergraduate college major and undergraduate school of origin affect the performance of the students in the MM program. (3) IQ of 130 or more become a single factor that contribute to a superior academic performance in the MM program. Other factors such as the school where the students come from and their major in the undergraduate program did not contribute to superior academic performance in the MM program. (4) MM school seems to put heavy emphasize in its student evaluation on IQ than other quotion such as EQ (emotional quotion) or SQ (spiritual quotion).

It is recommended that: (1) MM school should consider IQ as one of the requirement in selecting students. While undergradute major (whether business or non business) or school of origin (whether from state own or private own school) seems to be not an important factors to be considered. (2) Since MM school still put heavy emphasize on IQ, further study is suggested: (a) whether school performance and/or IQ contribute to the success of the student career; and (b) the effect of EQ (emotional quotion) on the academic performance.

Abstract

The purpose of this action research was to help the students to identify professions appropriate with their abilities, interests, and personality traits and to guide the students to technical and vocational training, especially at the primary and secondary levels with their own will. An action research strategy in which qualitative methods and quantitative methods were used was selected for this study. As a result of this action research, there was a promising difference in terms of the proportional change between the number of students who finished from high school in the sample and attended to Mettu polytechnic college last year and the number of students in the sample who has finished from high school and then who will attend to Mettu poly technic college this year. The findings of this research have important implications about how vocational and technical education can be updated, improved, increased the quality and attractiveness, well-organized according to market needs and thus more preferred in Ethiopia based on the perceptions and preferences of the students who preferred or did not prefer TVET.

Key Words: Mettu polytechnic college, students, action study.

Introduction

Background of the Study

All over the world, Technical and vocational training is recognized as an instrument for economic and social development.

The Ethiopian education system consists of 12 years of compulsory education (8-year primary, 2-year high school, 2-year preparatory and higher education respectively. In Ethiopia, there are main types of high schools & colleges: 9-10 high schools, preparatory high schools & TVET schools. Admission to preparatory high schools is competitive by the government examination, and applicants must have good grades following their compulsory education. Preparatory high schools are the most prestigious in Ethiopia. Students attend for 2 years and study a broad science curriculum and foreign languages. Preparatory general high schools also select by the government entrance exam /matric /and applicants must have completed their ten-year education without repeating any year. TVET less prestigious they are than preparatory High Schools, TVET College covers a similar 3/4-year program. TVET are schools aiming at training and educating students for employment. TVET College is the least prestigious of these and the easiest to enter in terms of the less scores obtained at the high school entrance exam. Any students who have finished high school and have not been admitted to other prestigious schools but have a right to attend TVET according to their scores from the high school entrance exam. This school is TVET College. TVET graduates have several disadvantages relative to general secondary education students. Firstly, because of their concentrated TVET, they tend to be less prepared for the academically-oriented university entrance exam. Secondly, the university entrance formula, which gives greater weight to students’ performance when applying to study in a related field, reduces the likelihood that TVET graduates could enter into a four-year university program because, by definition, none is directly related to a TVET field. And thirdly, while TVET graduates are provided with direct access to tertiary education (without consideration of their scores at the university entrance exam), their choice of discipline is limited to the specific field they studied in their TVET. The basic problem for TVET for Mettu TVET is the student. Thus, there are not so many students who attend TVET College through choice or who have been selected on some definite criteria. The reasons for selection of this Mettu TVET in order of importance are: because of getting inadequate scores to go to Preparatory high school; economic inadequacy of the family; guidance of the family and acquaintances; desire to join economic life and guidance performed under some definite criteria by both the primary and high school and the family.

When the student distributions in preparatory schools and TVET in Ethiopia were examined, in the past year majority was in preparatory secondary studies in general in Ethiopia with a percentage of more in general and less percent in TVET. On the other hand, in Ethiopia the latest unemployment data shows that there is a serious problem in youth unemployment. The high unemployment rate of educated young people should be considered as a serious and dangerous sign in terms of the country’s future prosperity. Despite the importance given to TVET education and the rapidly increasing number of those colleges, the demand for general high secondary school education is still ongoing. A limited quota of higher education causes those preparatory secondary graduates flow to the labor market without any professional background, facing with a serious unemployment problem. The definition of educated youth is a person who has graduated from secondary school and higher education institutions. The majority of unemployed people are those of high secondary finish.

The aim of this action research was to help the students to identify professions appropriate with their abilities, talents, interests and personality traits and to guide the students to technical and vocational training, especially at the primary and high school level with their own will.

1.1. Problem Identification

It is also worth to note that students who failed to proceed to secondary school do not have vocational skills.

The major problems of the students unable to select technical vocational and training Mettu PTC are: – there is no computations (no grading system, only C&NO C), negative understanding about technics, Compound is not attractive for students to stay as well as for teacher, administration worker and other, there is a skilled teacher in our college but no working together also and no respect each other , there is no different club like Sport, Technology, HIV, etc., teacher and management worker lack of respect for their job. So to over these all face problems teaching society to convert their negative understanding on TVET and the important of TVET and the big role over the world, becharm the compound more attraction to stay, working together and respect for our job.

Research question

• Do questions arise as to why the student/learners are not first choosing TVET over the preparatory high school?

Objective

• To Reflect on the key concepts and consideration of the theme, including the Pressures to make Mettu PTC more attractive for students to choose.
• To help the students to identify professions appropriate to their abilities, talents, interests, and personality traits.
• To improve the public perceptions of Mettu PTC Colleges to make students’ first choice.

Action plan

I completed the first cycle of the action research in the following way:-

Focus on Making Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for student to prefer Why

• To Reflect on the key concepts and considerations of the theme, including the Pressures to make Mettu PTC more attractive for students to choose.
• To help the students to identify professions appropriate to their abilities, talents, interests, and personality traits.
• To improve the public perceptions of Mettu PTC to make students’ first choice.

1. 1. Preparation of plan

By Preparing Proposal Instructor Belachew Eshetu January 13/2020

1. 2. Implementation of the action plan attracting MPTC for students to prefer MPTC teachers and students February 5/2020
2. 3. Data collection

• Face to face
• Interviews
• Previous documents
• Observing
• Instructor Belachew Eshetu and students of MPTC January22-Feb3

1. 4. Report writing Writing report Instructor Belachew Eshetu March 1/2020

Action/Intervention

After submitting this action plan I started to apply the following steps:-

1. The formal permission procedures from MPTC for the research were fulfilled.
2. The target student population and sample were determined by students in MPTC.
3. The numbers of students who preferred vocational and technical education were checked and their numbers were determined.
4. Individual and focus interviews with the selected 10 sample of students in their TVET in MPTC.
5. Vocational and technical teachers from technical and vocational education made presentations of those promising technical and vocational programs with the highest employment potential.
6. The students and teachers from those promising technical and vocational programs in TVET education introduced their own programs.
7. TVET visits for observing the practical operation of those technical and vocational programs were organized.
8. Individual and focus group interviews with the selected 5 samples of students in their TVET in MPTC were done again in order to understand whether there was a change in students’ attitudes to MPTC.
9. The preference rates of the students from the sample school for technical and Mettu PTC were compared with the previous year to reveal the realization level of this action research.

Method

An action research strategy in which qualitative methods and quantitative methods were used was selected for this study. “Action research simultaneously assists in problem-solving and expands scientific knowledge, as well as enhancing the competencies of the respective actors, being performed collaboratively in an immediate situation using data feedback in a cyclical process, aimed at an increased understanding of a given social situation, primarily applicable for the understanding of change processes in social systems and undertaken within a mutually acceptable framework.” (Hult & Lennung, 1980, p. 241-250). Thus, the advantages of action research can be summarized such as direct links between research and problem solving, Possible personal benefits for practitioner/professional self-development, a continuous cycle of change and development – organizational benefits, practitioner participation, an accumulation of action research may lead to policy and practice changes.

In this Action research, the following Method are adopted to achieve the objectives the cycle process shown in the following Fig 1. which have used in my Action research.

Fig 1

Data Collection

In order to investigate participants’ perceptions on TVET and how to make Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for the student to prefer, semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews were used because it would provide an in-depth exploration of the topic, it would allow the researchers flexibility, for example, to change the order of questions, simplify the questions and to probe the interviews (Cohen, et al. 2007). Data were collected from January2020-Feb2020. This included 20-40 minute recorded interviews with the informants- face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews- with initial interview questions. Face-to-face interviews were done and informants’ experiences, thoughts and feelings were recorded in a taped diary. Additionally, the target student population and sample were determined in schools- 10th-grade students in Mettu high school, the numbers of students who finished from the selected high school last year in the 2018-2019 academic year and preferred vocational and technical education were checked and their numbers were determined from school statistics. Thus, the preference and enrolment rates of those students who finished last year and who would finish this year from the sample school for technical and vocational college upper secondary education were compared with the last year to reveal the realization level of this action research.

Data Analysis

Data analysis began with repeated readings of interview transcripts from conversations with participants. The purpose was to determine the essence of the phenomenon and structures of experiences of participants related to TVET and how to Make Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for students to prefer. During data analysis, the data were organized categorically, reviewed repeatedly and continually coded. Interview transcripts were regularly reviewed.

Findings

The findings of the action study were analyzed under main sub-headings: the view of the students who finished from high school last year and preferred vocational and technical education on TVET high schools, parents and students’ views on Vocational and Technical Education prior to introductory presentations on TVET high schools and school visits, presentations and school visits, the students` views on Vocational and Technical Education after presentations and school visits and the comparison of the enrolment rates of the students from the sample school to technical and vocational than secondary school education with the students who finished from the high school last year.

The total number of students attending 2010 and 2011(old students) is Male 645, Female 326 and in 2012 year Male 390, Female 60 in Metu polytechnic collage this indicates that the number of students is decreasing year to year so the interest decrease of students who prefer the TVET which means our collage is not attracted student to prefer. we going automatically take action.

Pre- assess

Fig 2

The number of students very decrease year to year as you see the above percent fig 2 students attend in 2010 and 2011 year totally 971, Male 645(44%), Female 345(20%) and the number of students in 2012 (in this year) totally 450, Male 390(25%), Female60 (11%) this means half students decrease and a number of female students very decrease so the student not attracted by Mettu polytechnic college.

• 11%
• 44%
• 20%
• 25%

The number of old students in 2010 and 2011 year and new students in 2012 year choose TVET and attending in Mettu polytechnic college female(old) male(old) female(new) male(new)

I started from the student interview, question and answer with selected sample students and to solve faced problems which list above I take the following action.

Mettu ploy technic college more attract for the student to prefer.

1. Develop teaching and learning system English language and teaching by our own Oromic language.
2. Preparing different skill computations between students for the winner by giving awards.
3. Preparing the MPTC compound suitable for students to stay.
4. By increasing of the Female participation
5. We follow the grading system that is an option for students come to computation between them.
6. Announcing to the society about MPTC important students to join.
7. Teaching the student about TVET in a lower grade in primary and secondary schools to avoid negative thinking on TVET.

Next 2013 year the students choose the Mettu ploy technic college 100% than others like preparatory, and other private colleges and year to year increase the interest of students to join TVET.

Observation

They encourage of the students to join MPTC, and avoid negative thinking on TVET, increasing their interest choose MPTC. I put the percentage of students in case of very attracted by MPTC next 2013 year the students choose the Mettu ploy technic college 100% than others like preparatory, other private college and year to year increased interest of students to join TVET.

Post-asses

Fig 3

Us we see the fig 2 the number of students who choose the MPTC is increasing Male 54%and Female 46% double the past year by applying an action plan.

1. Female 46%
2. Male 54%

The number of students chooses the MPTC

Conclusion

TVET in Mettu were perceived both by students and their parents as the college the aim of which is to train and to educate students according to the vocational programs they choose based on their talents, abilities, and interests, help them to find a job easily in the labor market after graduation by acquiring the qualifications of the professions they preferred or as the college which offers a chance to run their own enterprise. However, TVET are not perceived as prestigious when compared to high schools as students attending to TVET the aim of which to train and educate students as intermediate manpower for the labor market are not as luckier as those attending high schools the aim of which to prepare students for academic higher education in attending tertiary education

The main purpose of high school is to prepare students for further studies or if not pursuing college, then preparing them for life outside of school. Most students feel they are not using real-world life skills or learning them during their time in high school. Life skill courses should involve teaching students abilities that include social skills, money, and other skills like cooking, or driver’s ed. Though schools may offer certain courses about these skills in their curriculum, students often may not know about these courses because they are not made aware of them, they are more focused on the classes that are mandatory such as English, Math, Science, etc. or they are more worried about what courses colleges will pay more attention to. Classes like these would be vital to the transition to adulthood. Most students in their senior year and after graduating begin working, which means writing or having a well-structured resume, paying bills and taxes. Without these basic skills and information, teenagers can struggle to come to terms with real-world situations.

Schools should be able to provide basic social, mental, and emotional skills that ready teenagers for their life after high school. Overall, if brought back, they could be placed as electives that give students a chance to learn how to use basic skills as a function after high school or better yet made mandatory classes for seniors who have enough space in their schedule to attend these said classes. Classes like these would be used to help students function as proper adults in college or what they choose to do afterward. These classes bring back the idea of high school graduates knowing how to file taxes, knowing the best way to save and budget money, and more skills used in the everyday life of an adult.

There are many benefits to life skill education. It is not only about having the information to fill out your taxes or learn to drive a car, but life skill education has also been found to be an effective ‘psychosocial intervention strategy for promoting positive social, and mental health of adolescents which plays an important role in all aspects such as strengthening coping strategies and developing self-confidence and emotional intelligence, as well as enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills (Significance of Life Skills Education). Life skill education programs provide a great support system for these soon-to-be adults. High schoolers have spent many of their lives having things done for them, never having to deal with the thought of bills or taxes. These classes will help guide them through the basics of surviving adult life, learning how to cook a decent meal, managing money correctly, and keeping a good credit score.

Students these days are not very motivated when they are stuck in classes eight hours a day that they have no interest in them. In Montgomery County, a school called Thomas Edison High School of Technology offers programs that allow students to ‘experience success through hands-on learning that prepares them for college and future careers’ (Thomas Edison SOT). They have programs for those interested in human consumer services like cosmetology and other programs such as automotive and construction. In a large survey given to high school dropouts, it was found that ‘about half cited uninteresting classes as a major reason for their decision. Four out of five said they wished they’d had more opportunity to do real-world learning in high school’ (Ripley). Programs like the ones Edison offers to students will provide an opportunity for students to pursue and get ahead in the career they want for themselves. Along with it being done through a school, students will save money by not having to spend money other than any supplies needed to attend this school.

High school plays a vital role in the development of one’s personality. Complete with life skills education would change the views students would have on life. Life skills education could provide solutions associated with behavioral and emotional problems that many teens may suffer from. These courses integrated into the schools’ curriculum would be big gameplay for acquiring these skills in various situations in life. Life skills education is defined by UNICEF as ‘transferable skills that enable individuals to deal with everyday life, and to progress and succeed in school, work and societal life. They are comprised of skills, attitudes, values, behaviors and domain-based knowledge.’ While the World Health Organization (WHO) defined life skills as ‘the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.’ Though two different definitions, with the World Health Organization talking more about the positive mental aspect of life skills and UNICEF talks about like-skill education, both make points as to the great benefits of these courses. In today’s day and age, we know many teenagers suffer with mental illness or know someone who does. Teaching them proper mental health care, would help them know the proper way to take care of themselves and their loved ones. Teenagers are susceptible to forming unhealthy habits in order to cope with life. Showing students correct and healthy ways of coping with matters instead of heading towards a destructive path.

Many would argue that these types of classes are not needed and should not be added to the school’s curriculum. They state that high school teachers are not there to educate students on how to pay taxes or prepare them for the work field, that is the job and responsibility of the parent(s) of the household. The school should be focusing its resources on crucial factors such as increasing school funding, giving students more options for elective classes, and/or improving students’ test grades. Having classes like those would be distracting and ‘filling up a student’s schedule with these nearly pointless classes gives them fewer opportunities to take more advanced classes (Thompson). Not every student wants to continue forward with college, so having them continue to take these pointless classes that benefit them in no way is excessive. I wish I were able to take more courses like these in my time at high school, I would be a little more confident in what I wanted to do with my life and be prepared to live a life without the constant help of my mother. I was only able to take one course during my senior year, Career Seminar, and that is where I learned about credit card debt, the best way to budget money, how to write a good resume, what to do before, during, and after a job interview, etc. It was the only class that I truly felt was helping and going to help me in the future.

Saying these classes are ‘pointless’ and not making them a priority or giving students the option to sign up for these courses is the reason many high school graduates like me leave feeling overwhelmed with all these aspects that come with being an adult. Schools prioritize activities such as sports, music, and art over learning basic adult skills. Life skills have already been taught in many schools in the US and around the world. Only a few schools around the U.S. continue to include life-skill courses, while in other countries, life-skills programs are offered and have been introduced in schools for all different age groups. As stated in the beginning, high school is there to provide knowledge and experience to those hoping to continue with college or to those wishing to do something else after high school. It is about giving students the option of learning more than how to find the degree of an obtuse angle or how many times 6 goes into 600.

In conclusion, life skills go well beyond having students be certain about a major for college or impressing a potential employer in the future, life skills provide teenagers with important tools for development, such as critical thinking, learning to socialize, how to act when there may not be anyone else around to intervene or how to cope with personal life situations. Most of these courses like driver’s ed were a staple in high school curriculums around the United States. Back in 2001, driver’s education was dropped from public school curriculums due to either budget cuts or teachers’ and parents’ emphasis on the importance of college-ready courses and requirements. Junior year is when most students begin to embark on a mission to get their driver’s license. Not all students have access to driver’s ed classes due to the excessive cost of attending. Schools being able to provide access to opportunities like driver’s ed would make it convenient for certain students.

Introduction

The transition from high school to college can be a turbulent time for many reasons: students moving out on their own, the state of being in a different environment for potentially the first time in many years, and a greater role in their lives coming with added responsibility all happen simultaneously at the start of a collegiate career. One common course for STEM majors to take in this stressful first semester is College Calculus, but there is a disagreement in education on how to prepare students for this course, to ease their burdens in this stressful time of their lives. Secondary instructors see high school calculus as an essential tool for preparing successful College Calculus students, while collegiate instructors want their students to have a firm grasp of the pre-requisite courses (Sadler & Sonnert, 2018).

Regardless of what side of this argument we align with currently, it is clear that change needs to be made. Major evidence of problems in STEM fields occur from students not being prepared for concepts, and one of the biggest hurdles is calculus. In fact, as students are not prepared for calculus, about 25% of students complete developmental courses when they arrive at college (Harwell, Post, Medhanie, Dupuis, & LeBeau, 2013; Post et al., 2010; Sonnert & Sadler, 2013), which is the equivalent of relearning material that was covered in high school, so this implies that some of the blame lies with high school curricula (Harwell 2013).

Despite this understanding, surprisingly little is known about the impact that high school curricula have on collegiate coursework, let alone specifically on calculus (Harwell et al., 2013; LeBeau et al., 2012). It is hard to answer whether or not high school calculus has a positive effect without knowing how different calculus curricula impact education, so examining this leads us closer to addressing the necessity of high school calculus. To this end, research is needed on the different curricular types that influence high school mathematics and how they influence calculus success in multiple ways: grades, retention, and the ability to progress to higher mathematics. In order to determine the direction of future research, this paper seeks to characterize themes that emerge from a sample of the literature as well as to see what is missing from the literature.

Literature Review of Research and Practices

In order to gain some insight into the types of research that has been done in regard to curricular effects on collegiate calculus, the author began a literature search of materials that involved how college calculus was affected by different secondary curricula that prepared for the transition to calculus. An additional constraint was that these articles should be modern, which was interpreted as being published after the year 2000. An initial search done by the author for a previous literature review found too few papers that focused on the subject matter. To expand upon the number of studies, the author searched this time in databases like JSTOR and ERIC to find any other literature that would give more credence to the conclusions listed here. Three themes emerged in the literature found in the review, and these shall be separated into sections in which the author will go into detail about them: Effects of Curriculum, Effects of College, and Effects of Achievement.

Effects of Curriculum

Curricula play a vital role in the educational system. More than just a collection of textbooks, curricula represent both those materials, supplemental materials and supports, and the way that they are implemented in the classroom. A choice in curricula is both a choice in the content taught, how it is planned to be taught, and how it is actually taught. With such a pivotal role in education, one cannot immediately dismiss its effect on student educational outcomes. As such, it has become a key focus of much research, even going as far as the research of how studies on curricula are carried out (NRC 2004). As the primary focus of this literature review, the Effects of Curriculum were indeed a major reoccurring theme across these articles. However, the exact nature of these effects is not completely agreed upon in the literature.

On the one hand, there are many studies that conclude that there are no effects of curriculum on Calculus success (Harwell et al., 2009; Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009; LeBeau et al., 2012; Harwell et al., 2013; Post et al., 2013). An overwhelming majority of these were studies conducted using archived data from colleges in the Midwest, as well as contacting high schools listed in the file in order to determine the curriculum implemented, and utilized final grades in collegiate calculus as the relevant outcome (Harwell et al., 2009; LeBeau et al., 2012; Harwell et al., 2013; Post et al., 2013). The remaining article examined one particular case of curriculum, AP, and used archived data from the Texas Schools Microdata Panel to determine that the AP curriculum had no effect on both grades and second-year retention in their college (Klopfenstein & Thomas, 2009).

On the other hand, there are a few studies that show an effect of some curricular programs on calculus success in some manner (Hill & Parker, 2006; Harwell, Medhanie, et al., 2013). These articles both feature archived data from schools in the Midwest as well, though it should be noted that the article by Hill and Parker (2006) was specifically stated to be conducted with data from Michigan State University while Harwell, Medhanie, et al. (2013) was more ambiguous (Hill & Parker, 2006; Harwell, Medhanie, et al., 2013). The striking difference between these articles and the ‘no effect’ articles is the difference in choice of what measures Calculus success. For the article of Hill and Parker (2006), this measure was the level of mathematics taken, which was found to decline for students enrolled in a Core-Plus curriculum. Harwell, Medhanie, et al. (2013) went with an alternative approach to success, instead of evaluating retention in mathematics courses past calculus. While there was no effect on curriculum from retention, the researchers observed that students in the NSF curriculum were more likely to begin college with a developmental math course, a prerequisite to calculus, than their peers in commercially developed or Chicago Math curricula.

One other article addressed the effects of curriculum, but in a broader sense than the previous articles, tying back to the question of whether calculus is good rather than just looking at curriculum. Sadler and Sonnert (2018) addressed the difference in students nationally who took high school calculus versus those who just had mastery of the prerequisite courses, captured by grades in these courses as well as SAT scores. Their results concluded that having good outcomes in the prerequisites had more than double the effect on college calculus performance than those who took calculus (Sadler & Sonnert, 2018). However, this same study found that students with lower achievement in the prerequisites benefited more from being placed into high school calculus (Sadler & Sonnert, 2018).

There was one article that did not fit into the above categories as neatly as the articles already mentioned yet indicated some subtle effects from the curriculum implemented that should be kept in mind. Teuscher and Reys (2012) examined how high school students in single-subject versus integrated calculus curricula did with both multiple-choice and open-ended tasks involving related rates. In this study, there was generally little difference in the low scores received by both groups on problems in standardized tests involving related rates, but there was a significant increase in performance on tasks involving piecewise functions and rates of change for the single-subject curricular cohorts (Teuscher & Reys, 2012).

Effects of College

Although the focus of this search was the effects of high school curriculum on collegiate calculus outcomes, the effects of college were also a reoccurring theme in the literature examined. This should be a more direct effect on the classes as this is connected to the same institution, but the amount of effect that this has when compared to the high school curriculum is unclear without research. The articles included in this section examined many different aspects of college effects, including college curriculum, college placement tests for math courses, and even the characteristics of the college.

Sahin, Cavlazoglu, and Zeytuncu (2015) examined the effects of collegiate curriculum on college calculus success, in the specific case of a flipped classroom case study. It was found that student quiz scores increased significantly, and students preferred the format of the flipped classroom (Sahin et al., 2015). Sonnert and Sadler (2014) examined archived data from the Midwest like other similar studies from before to determine the efficiency of the placement tests into college math courses. This study shows that while mathematical preparation is significant, taking college pre-calculus is not, even for weakly prepared students (Sonnert & Sadler, 2014). Harwell (2013) examined the effects of many college characteristics, such as size and selectivity, on mathematics success and retention. No significance was determined from any of the college characteristics though, leading to the conclusion that high school factors must be a bigger influence on college mathematics success (Harwell, 2013).

Effects of Achievement

As this review covers primarily a comparison of different curricular samples, one important thing to keep in mind is the comparability of samples, and is given as a recommendation of the National Research Council’s 2004 Curricular Evaluation Report (NRC 2004). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the effects of high school achievements for students play a unanimously vital role in their success in college calculus. With this recommendation, it comes as little surprise that quite a few articles that had some measure of achievement as a categorical variable in their study (Harwell et al., 2009; Post et al., 2010; LeBeau et al., 2012; Harwell et al., 2013). However, this is still a fairly small amount compared to the number of studies in the last section, which goes against the recommendations stated earlier (NRC 2004). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the articles that included effects of achievement all indicated a positive correlation between the said measure of achievement and the grade earned in collegiate calculus, regardless of the measure was high school GPA (Harwell et al., 2009; Post et al., 2010; LeBeau et al., 2012) or ACT score (Harwell et al., 2009; Post et al., 2010; LeBeau et al., 2012; Harwell et al., 2013).

Implications for Future Studies and Use of Curriculum

For high school curricular comparisons, it seems appropriate that those papers follow the recommendations of the National Research Council (NRC 2004). Although there are a few recommendations not followed, only two will be discussed. The first was the recommendation for more pure experimental studies to strive for better balance with quasi-experimental studies (NRC 2004), yet almost all of the curricular comparisons were quasi-experimental. The other was the recommendation for data to be collected about implementation fidelity (NRC 2004), as the curriculum is more than a book but also includes how faithfully it was adapted. However, almost all of the studies took the institution’s word for the curriculum used. These were studies published after the recommendations and yet did not follow them, which is problematic for the field.

Overall, the answer to the best curricular choice for collegiate calculus at present is uncertain, depending on definitions of success, and weakened by a lack of variety in the research. Without broadening the research in the field, the truth will remain hidden, so this review should be a call for this subfield to come together and coordinate research to tackle these issues.

References

1. Harwell, M., Post, T. R., Cutler, A., Maeda, Y., Anderson, E., Norman, K. W., & Medhanie, A. (2009). The Preparation of Students From National Science Foundation-Funded and Commercially Developed High School Mathematics Curricula for Their First University Mathematics Course. American Education Research Journal, 46(1), 203-231. doi: 10.3102/0002831208323368
2. Harwell, M., Post, T. R., Cutler, A., Maeda, Y., Anderson, E., Norman, K. W., & Medhanie, A. (2009). The Preparation of Students From National Science Foundation-Funded and Commercially Developed High School Mathematics Curricula for Their First University Mathematics Course. American Education Research Journal, 46(1), 203-231. doi: 10.3102/0002831208323368
3. Harwell, M. (2013). The Impact of Institutional Factors on the Relationship Between High School Mathematics Curricula and College Mathematics Course-Taking and Achievement. Educational Research Quarterly, 36(3), 22-46.
4. Harwell, M., Medhanie, A., Dupuis, D. N., Post, T. R., & LeBeau, B. (2013). A Multisite Study of High School Mathematics Curricula and the Impact of Taking a Developmental Math Course in College. Educational Research Quarterly, 37(3), 3-22.
5. Harwell, M., Post, T. R., Medhanie, A., Dupuis, D. N., & LeBeau, B. (2013). A Multi-Institutional Study of High School Mathematics Curricula and College Mathematics Achievement and Course Taking. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44(5), 742-774.
6. Hill, R., & Parker, T. (2006). A Study of Core-Plus Attending Michigan State University. The American Mathematical Monthly, 113(10), 905-921.
7. Klopfenstein, K., & Thomas, M. K. (2009). The Link Between Advanced Placement Experience and Early College Success. Southern Economic Journal, 75(3), 873-891.
8. LeBeau, B., Harwell, M., Monson, D., Dupuis, D., Medhanie, A., & Post, T. R. (2012). Student and high-school characteristics related to completing a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) major in college. Research in Science & Technological Education, 30(1), 17-28. doi: 10.1080/02635143.2012.659178
9. National Research Council (2004). On evaluating curricular effectiveness: Judging the quality of
10. K-12 mathematics evaluations. National Academies Press.
11. Post, T. R., Medhanie, A., Harwell, M., Norman, K. W., Dupuis, D. N., Muchlinski, T., Anderson, E., & Monson, D. (2010). The Impact of Prior Mathematics Achievement on the Relationship Between High School Mathematics and Postsecondary Mathematics Performance, Course-Taking, and Persistence. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 41(3), 274-308.
12. Sadler, P., & Sonnert, G. (2018). The Path to College Calculus: The Impact of High School Mathematics Schoolwork. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 49(3), 292-329.
13. Sahin A., Cavlazoglu, B., & Zeytuncu, Y. E. (2015). Flipping a College Calculus Course: A Case Study. Educational Technology & Society, 18 (3), 142–152.
14. Sonnert, G., & Sadler, P. M. (2014). The impact of taking a college pre- calculus course on students’ college calculus performance. International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 45(8), 1188-1207. doi: 10.1080/0020739X.2014.920532
15. Teuscher, D., & Reys, R. E. (2012). Rates of Change: AP Calculus Students’ Understandings
16. and Misconceptions After Completing Different Curricular Paths. Social Science and
17. Mathematics, 112(6), 359-376. doi:10.1111/j.1949-8594.2012.00150.x

Introduction

Schools want their students to be superior in their academic performance. Efforts are done and resources are utilized by schools just to make sure that the students received the best education they deserved since best education will prepare them for better job.

Study had shown that school factors affect job performance as manager. As the study of Howard (1986) discovered that performance of a person as a manager was accounted by some factors and among them is college major (which is one of the schooling factor). It is important to know what make students superior in their academic performance, hoping that it could contribute to their performance in their work. Some factors might affect the academic performance of the students. However, those factors still need to be identified. This study intend to answer this problem.

The study is intended to find out whether the following factors significantly contribute to the superior performance of students in their master in management program: (1) IQ, (2) College major, and (3) School of origin. Further, the study intend to discover the extend of the above factors on the superior performance of the students.

One of the main limitation of the study is the sampling technique used. The sampling technique make used of stratified convinience sampling. The use of random sampling is suprior to the convinience sampling. However, by selecting respondents from the same school could eliminate the difference of teaching method and teacher factors that might affect school performance.

Review of Related Studies

Several studies had been done in relation to the performances of students.

The Effect of Intelligence

One factor that had strong effect on academic performance was student intelligence or more specifically known as intelligence quotient (IQ).

The study of Nonis et al. (2005) indicated that College Testing Assessments (ACT) significantly correlate with academic performance of the students. ACT is one of the entrance examination, as it is well known that most of the college entrance examination used by business school measure student intelligent. Another study by Cushing et al. (2004) from a university’s MBA program found out that applicants exhibit a higher correlation between test scores and undergraduate GPAs. This study understate the importance of GMAT (general management admission test) scores as one indicator of IQ in predicting performance of potential MBA (master in business administration) students. However, GMAT as one of the entrance examination as ACT that measure intelligent which according to the study of Nonis et al. (2005) significantly correlated.

Prior Educational Background

Although some of the personal characteristics were found to be related with academic performance, Win & Miller (2005) study discovered that previous schools had impact too on academic performance. The study of Win & Miller (2005) to the first year students at the University of Western Australia discovered that high schools had an impact on the academic performance of students at university beyond students’ own background characteristics. While another study indicated that personality very likely affects academic performance (Conley & Simon, 1993).

In other words, the undergraduate educational background of students entering graduate school then is expected to have effect. The study of Hartnett, Romcke & Yap (2004) on university accounting students discovered that statistically significant relationships were observed between accounting performance and accounting study prior to university. This study was supported by the study of anonymous (1996) that accounting result of a student who studied accounting previously is higher than that of a student who did not study accounting at high school. It seems that the education background of previous study might effect the academic performance of the next education level.

The Effect of other Personal Characteristics

Some studies indicated that personal characteristics of students affect their academic performance. Such personal characteristics as strive for achievement, feeling of inferiority, persistency, and initiative are the personal characteristics students. Each students has their own personal characteristics that might affect their academic performance.

Nonis, et al. (2005) studied factors that could be used to predict academic success. In their study, they discovered some predictors of academic success and most of those predictor were personal characteristics. It was found that College Testing Assessments (ACT) composite score, achievement striving, and feelings of inferiority significantly correlate with academic performance of students taking marketing education. In this study, two personal characteristics was mentioned, achievement striving and feelings of inferiority. Another study by Jaramillo & Spector (2004) on the academic performance of undergraduate marketing students discovered that persistency and initiative are positively related to effort, which is an important antecedent of academic performance. Also the study of Lee, Jamieson & Earley (1996) that achievement striving is positively related to academic performance.

Hypotheses and the Definition of Operational Terms

The following factors significantly contribute to the superior performance of students in the master in management program: IQ, College major, and School of origin. The null hypothesis, those factors have no significant contribution to the superior performance of students in the master in management program.

These are the operasional definition used in this study: IQ or Intelligence Quotion is the intelligence of the students as measured by the IQ test. College Major is the undergraduate major of the students prior to taking the master in management degree. The college major of the students is either business major or non-business major. Includes in business major are major in economics, accounting, and management. While non-business are enginerring, science, law, medical, and other social science majors. School of Origin is the school where the student’s undergraduate come from. It could either be state own college/university or private own college/university.

Methodology

This is a confirmatory, cross-sectional study. It is said confirmatory study since there are several variables need to be confirmed whether significant contribution exist. While it is said also cross-sectional study since the data was taken in the same time.

Stratified convenience sampling method is used. Population is stratified according to the school that offer graduate school in management. Conveniently, a graduate school of management in Jakarta was selected since the data is readily available. Students enrolled in that school from year 2001 to 2006 were selected. They were divided into two groups, those graduated with superior performance, and the other group are those graduated with low performance. The GPA was used as the criterion to consider whether the student belong to the superior or low performance group. Those with GPA of 3.75 or above was considered as superior performance and those with GPA of 3.24 or below was considered as low performance. Forty students have been selected for this study. They were the fulltime students that enroll from the year 2001 to 2006. Twenty students with high performance and another 20 students with low performance which make out of 40 respondents were selected.

Since the data regarding the academic performance, intelligent scores, and previous academic background are available in the registrar office of PPM Graduate School of Management, then data was taken from that office. Permision was asked from the person in-charged. Upon permitted, data was gathered.

Data was analyzed using LOGISTIC REGRESSION method of statistical analysis. SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Science) was used as computing software in data processing. The following steps was conducted: Data was inputed in SPSS worksheet; data was tested for the fitness of the model (the regression model is tested for it’s fitness/acceptance using Hosmer and Lemeshow Test. The regression model is said to be accepted for further analysis when the Hosmer and Lemeshow score is more than 0.10); and data was tested for the significance of the predictive variables (when the model is appropriate, the data regarding the predictive variables was tested. Logistic Regression Analysis is used in testing the predictive variables with the significance level of 0.05 or at the confidence level of 0.95).

Analysis and Interpretation

The Logistic Regression statistical technique is used to test the hypothesis with the significance level () of 0.05 or at the confidence level of 0.95. The model is tested for it’s significant using Hosmer and Lemeshow test. It is said to be accepted for further analysis when the Hosmer and Lemeshow score is more than 0.1.

Data was analyzed using SPSS. The Hosmer and Lemeshow test indicate a signficant (Sig.) value of 0.477 which is far above the minimum requirement of the model to be accepted for further analysis which is 0.1. In other words, the independent/criterion varables can be used to predict the dependent variable.

The significant of the independent variables were tested using the Logistic Regression model.

The result indicates that only VAR2 which is the IQ (Intelligence Quotion) that is significant with significant (Sig.) value of 0.004 which is less than significant level of 0.05. The beta coeficient of VAR2 which is the IQ of the students is known to be 0.116. The other two independent variables are found to be not significant. The significant (Sig.)value of VAR3 which is College Major is 0.314 and the significant (Sig.) value of VAR4 which is School of Origin is 0.501. Their significant values are more than significant level of 0.05 as required.

The null hypothesis that says IQ does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is REJECTED. There was a significant affect of students IQ on their academic performance in the Master in Management program. The null hypothesis that says College Major does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is ACCEPTED. There was no significant affect of undergraduate college major on their academic performance in the Master of Management program. And, the null hypothesis that says School of Origin does not affect performance of students in the Master in Management program is ACCEPTED. There was no significant affect of undergraduate school of origin on their academic performance in the Master in Management program.

The finding of this study consistent with the study of Nonis et al. (2005) which stated that College Testing Assessments (ACT) significantly correlate with academic performance of the students. This finding will be consistent as long as the assumption that college entrance examination such as ACT used by business school measure student intelligent. Also the study of Cushing et al. (2004) from a university’s MBA program found out that applicants exhibit a higher correlation between test scores and undergraduate GPAs.

Conclusion

The following conclusions are derived from the study: (1) The data support the hypothesis that IQ is a factor that affect the performance of the students in the MM program. (2) The data did not support the hypothesis that undergraduate college major and undergraduate school of origin affect the performance of the students in the MM program. (3) IQ of 130 or more become a single factor that contribute to a superior academic performance in the MM program. Other factors such as the school where the students come from and their major in the undergraduate program did not contribute to superior academic performance in the MM program. (4) MM school seems to put heavy emphasize in its student evaluation on IQ than other quotion such as EQ (emotional quotion) or SQ (spiritual quotion).

It is recommended that: (1) MM school should consider IQ as one of the requirement in selecting students. While undergradute major (whether business or non business) or school of origin (whether from state own or private own school) seems to be not an important factors to be considered. (2) Since MM school still put heavy emphasize on IQ, further study is suggested: (a) whether school performance and/or IQ contribute to the success of the student career; and (b) the effect of EQ (emotional quotion) on the academic performance.

Abstract

The purpose of this action research was to help the students to identify professions appropriate with their abilities, interests, and personality traits and to guide the students to technical and vocational training, especially at the primary and secondary levels with their own will. An action research strategy in which qualitative methods and quantitative methods were used was selected for this study. As a result of this action research, there was a promising difference in terms of the proportional change between the number of students who finished from high school in the sample and attended to Mettu polytechnic college last year and the number of students in the sample who has finished from high school and then who will attend to Mettu poly technic college this year. The findings of this research have important implications about how vocational and technical education can be updated, improved, increased the quality and attractiveness, well-organized according to market needs and thus more preferred in Ethiopia based on the perceptions and preferences of the students who preferred or did not prefer TVET.

Key Words: Mettu polytechnic college, students, action study.

Introduction

Background of the Study

All over the world, Technical and vocational training is recognized as an instrument for economic and social development.

The Ethiopian education system consists of 12 years of compulsory education (8-year primary, 2-year high school, 2-year preparatory and higher education respectively. In Ethiopia, there are main types of high schools & colleges: 9-10 high schools, preparatory high schools & TVET schools. Admission to preparatory high schools is competitive by the government examination, and applicants must have good grades following their compulsory education. Preparatory high schools are the most prestigious in Ethiopia. Students attend for 2 years and study a broad science curriculum and foreign languages. Preparatory general high schools also select by the government entrance exam /matric /and applicants must have completed their ten-year education without repeating any year. TVET less prestigious they are than preparatory High Schools, TVET College covers a similar 3/4-year program. TVET are schools aiming at training and educating students for employment. TVET College is the least prestigious of these and the easiest to enter in terms of the less scores obtained at the high school entrance exam. Any students who have finished high school and have not been admitted to other prestigious schools but have a right to attend TVET according to their scores from the high school entrance exam. This school is TVET College. TVET graduates have several disadvantages relative to general secondary education students. Firstly, because of their concentrated TVET, they tend to be less prepared for the academically-oriented university entrance exam. Secondly, the university entrance formula, which gives greater weight to students’ performance when applying to study in a related field, reduces the likelihood that TVET graduates could enter into a four-year university program because, by definition, none is directly related to a TVET field. And thirdly, while TVET graduates are provided with direct access to tertiary education (without consideration of their scores at the university entrance exam), their choice of discipline is limited to the specific field they studied in their TVET. The basic problem for TVET for Mettu TVET is the student. Thus, there are not so many students who attend TVET College through choice or who have been selected on some definite criteria. The reasons for selection of this Mettu TVET in order of importance are: because of getting inadequate scores to go to Preparatory high school; economic inadequacy of the family; guidance of the family and acquaintances; desire to join economic life and guidance performed under some definite criteria by both the primary and high school and the family.

When the student distributions in preparatory schools and TVET in Ethiopia were examined, in the past year majority was in preparatory secondary studies in general in Ethiopia with a percentage of more in general and less percent in TVET. On the other hand, in Ethiopia the latest unemployment data shows that there is a serious problem in youth unemployment. The high unemployment rate of educated young people should be considered as a serious and dangerous sign in terms of the country’s future prosperity. Despite the importance given to TVET education and the rapidly increasing number of those colleges, the demand for general high secondary school education is still ongoing. A limited quota of higher education causes those preparatory secondary graduates flow to the labor market without any professional background, facing with a serious unemployment problem. The definition of educated youth is a person who has graduated from secondary school and higher education institutions. The majority of unemployed people are those of high secondary finish.

The aim of this action research was to help the students to identify professions appropriate with their abilities, talents, interests and personality traits and to guide the students to technical and vocational training, especially at the primary and high school level with their own will.

1.1. Problem Identification

It is also worth to note that students who failed to proceed to secondary school do not have vocational skills.

The major problems of the students unable to select technical vocational and training Mettu PTC are: – there is no computations (no grading system, only C&NO C), negative understanding about technics, Compound is not attractive for students to stay as well as for teacher, administration worker and other, there is a skilled teacher in our college but no working together also and no respect each other , there is no different club like Sport, Technology, HIV, etc., teacher and management worker lack of respect for their job. So to over these all face problems teaching society to convert their negative understanding on TVET and the important of TVET and the big role over the world, becharm the compound more attraction to stay, working together and respect for our job.

Research question

• Do questions arise as to why the student/learners are not first choosing TVET over the preparatory high school?

Objective

• To Reflect on the key concepts and consideration of the theme, including the Pressures to make Mettu PTC more attractive for students to choose.
• To help the students to identify professions appropriate to their abilities, talents, interests, and personality traits.
• To improve the public perceptions of Mettu PTC Colleges to make students’ first choice.

Action plan

I completed the first cycle of the action research in the following way:-

Focus on Making Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for student to prefer Why

• To Reflect on the key concepts and considerations of the theme, including the Pressures to make Mettu PTC more attractive for students to choose.
• To help the students to identify professions appropriate to their abilities, talents, interests, and personality traits.
• To improve the public perceptions of Mettu PTC to make students’ first choice.

1. 1. Preparation of plan

By Preparing Proposal Instructor Belachew Eshetu January 13/2020

1. 2. Implementation of the action plan attracting MPTC for students to prefer MPTC teachers and students February 5/2020
2. 3. Data collection

• Face to face
• Interviews
• Previous documents
• Observing
• Instructor Belachew Eshetu and students of MPTC January22-Feb3

1. 4. Report writing Writing report Instructor Belachew Eshetu March 1/2020

Action/Intervention

After submitting this action plan I started to apply the following steps:-

1. The formal permission procedures from MPTC for the research were fulfilled.
2. The target student population and sample were determined by students in MPTC.
3. The numbers of students who preferred vocational and technical education were checked and their numbers were determined.
4. Individual and focus interviews with the selected 10 sample of students in their TVET in MPTC.
5. Vocational and technical teachers from technical and vocational education made presentations of those promising technical and vocational programs with the highest employment potential.
6. The students and teachers from those promising technical and vocational programs in TVET education introduced their own programs.
7. TVET visits for observing the practical operation of those technical and vocational programs were organized.
8. Individual and focus group interviews with the selected 5 samples of students in their TVET in MPTC were done again in order to understand whether there was a change in students’ attitudes to MPTC.
9. The preference rates of the students from the sample school for technical and Mettu PTC were compared with the previous year to reveal the realization level of this action research.

Method

An action research strategy in which qualitative methods and quantitative methods were used was selected for this study. “Action research simultaneously assists in problem-solving and expands scientific knowledge, as well as enhancing the competencies of the respective actors, being performed collaboratively in an immediate situation using data feedback in a cyclical process, aimed at an increased understanding of a given social situation, primarily applicable for the understanding of change processes in social systems and undertaken within a mutually acceptable framework.” (Hult & Lennung, 1980, p. 241-250). Thus, the advantages of action research can be summarized such as direct links between research and problem solving, Possible personal benefits for practitioner/professional self-development, a continuous cycle of change and development – organizational benefits, practitioner participation, an accumulation of action research may lead to policy and practice changes.

In this Action research, the following Method are adopted to achieve the objectives the cycle process shown in the following Fig 1. which have used in my Action research.

Fig 1

Data Collection

In order to investigate participants’ perceptions on TVET and how to make Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for the student to prefer, semi-structured interviews and focus group interviews were used because it would provide an in-depth exploration of the topic, it would allow the researchers flexibility, for example, to change the order of questions, simplify the questions and to probe the interviews (Cohen, et al. 2007). Data were collected from January2020-Feb2020. This included 20-40 minute recorded interviews with the informants- face-to-face interviews and focus group interviews- with initial interview questions. Face-to-face interviews were done and informants’ experiences, thoughts and feelings were recorded in a taped diary. Additionally, the target student population and sample were determined in schools- 10th-grade students in Mettu high school, the numbers of students who finished from the selected high school last year in the 2018-2019 academic year and preferred vocational and technical education were checked and their numbers were determined from school statistics. Thus, the preference and enrolment rates of those students who finished last year and who would finish this year from the sample school for technical and vocational college upper secondary education were compared with the last year to reveal the realization level of this action research.

Data Analysis

Data analysis began with repeated readings of interview transcripts from conversations with participants. The purpose was to determine the essence of the phenomenon and structures of experiences of participants related to TVET and how to Make Mettu poly technic Collage more attractive for students to prefer. During data analysis, the data were organized categorically, reviewed repeatedly and continually coded. Interview transcripts were regularly reviewed.

Findings

The findings of the action study were analyzed under main sub-headings: the view of the students who finished from high school last year and preferred vocational and technical education on TVET high schools, parents and students’ views on Vocational and Technical Education prior to introductory presentations on TVET high schools and school visits, presentations and school visits, the students` views on Vocational and Technical Education after presentations and school visits and the comparison of the enrolment rates of the students from the sample school to technical and vocational than secondary school education with the students who finished from the high school last year.

The total number of students attending 2010 and 2011(old students) is Male 645, Female 326 and in 2012 year Male 390, Female 60 in Metu polytechnic collage this indicates that the number of students is decreasing year to year so the interest decrease of students who prefer the TVET which means our collage is not attracted student to prefer. we going automatically take action.

Pre- assess

Fig 2

The number of students very decrease year to year as you see the above percent fig 2 students attend in 2010 and 2011 year totally 971, Male 645(44%), Female 345(20%) and the number of students in 2012 (in this year) totally 450, Male 390(25%), Female60 (11%) this means half students decrease and a number of female students very decrease so the student not attracted by Mettu polytechnic college.

• 11%
• 44%
• 20%
• 25%

The number of old students in 2010 and 2011 year and new students in 2012 year choose TVET and attending in Mettu polytechnic college female(old) male(old) female(new) male(new)

I started from the student interview, question and answer with selected sample students and to solve faced problems which list above I take the following action.

Mettu ploy technic college more attract for the student to prefer.

1. Develop teaching and learning system English language and teaching by our own Oromic language.
2. Preparing different skill computations between students for the winner by giving awards.
3. Preparing the MPTC compound suitable for students to stay.
4. By increasing of the Female participation
5. We follow the grading system that is an option for students come to computation between them.
6. Announcing to the society about MPTC important students to join.
7. Teaching the student about TVET in a lower grade in primary and secondary schools to avoid negative thinking on TVET.

Next 2013 year the students choose the Mettu ploy technic college 100% than others like preparatory, and other private colleges and year to year increase the interest of students to join TVET.

Observation

They encourage of the students to join MPTC, and avoid negative thinking on TVET, increasing their interest choose MPTC. I put the percentage of students in case of very attracted by MPTC next 2013 year the students choose the Mettu ploy technic college 100% than others like preparatory, other private college and year to year increased interest of students to join TVET.

Post-asses

Fig 3

Us we see the fig 2 the number of students who choose the MPTC is increasing Male 54%and Female 46% double the past year by applying an action plan.

1. Female 46%
2. Male 54%

The number of students chooses the MPTC

Conclusion

TVET in Mettu were perceived both by students and their parents as the college the aim of which is to train and to educate students according to the vocational programs they choose based on their talents, abilities, and interests, help them to find a job easily in the labor market after graduation by acquiring the qualifications of the professions they preferred or as the college which offers a chance to run their own enterprise. However, TVET are not perceived as prestigious when compared to high schools as students attending to TVET the aim of which to train and educate students as intermediate manpower for the labor market are not as luckier as those attending high schools the aim of which to prepare students for academic higher education in attending tertiary education

The main purpose of high school is to prepare students for further studies or if not pursuing college, then preparing them for life outside of school. Most students feel they are not using real-world life skills or learning them during their time in high school. Life skill courses should involve teaching students abilities that include social skills, money, and other skills like cooking, or driver’s ed. Though schools may offer certain courses about these skills in their curriculum, students often may not know about these courses because they are not made aware of them, they are more focused on the classes that are mandatory such as English, Math, Science, etc. or they are more worried about what courses colleges will pay more attention to. Classes like these would be vital to the transition to adulthood. Most students in their senior year and after graduating begin working, which means writing or having a well-structured resume, paying bills and taxes. Without these basic skills and information, teenagers can struggle to come to terms with real-world situations.

Schools should be able to provide basic social, mental, and emotional skills that ready teenagers for their life after high school. Overall, if brought back, they could be placed as electives that give students a chance to learn how to use basic skills as a function after high school or better yet made mandatory classes for seniors who have enough space in their schedule to attend these said classes. Classes like these would be used to help students function as proper adults in college or what they choose to do afterward. These classes bring back the idea of high school graduates knowing how to file taxes, knowing the best way to save and budget money, and more skills used in the everyday life of an adult.

There are many benefits to life skill education. It is not only about having the information to fill out your taxes or learn to drive a car, but life skill education has also been found to be an effective ‘psychosocial intervention strategy for promoting positive social, and mental health of adolescents which plays an important role in all aspects such as strengthening coping strategies and developing self-confidence and emotional intelligence, as well as enhancing critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills (Significance of Life Skills Education). Life skill education programs provide a great support system for these soon-to-be adults. High schoolers have spent many of their lives having things done for them, never having to deal with the thought of bills or taxes. These classes will help guide them through the basics of surviving adult life, learning how to cook a decent meal, managing money correctly, and keeping a good credit score.

Students these days are not very motivated when they are stuck in classes eight hours a day that they have no interest in them. In Montgomery County, a school called Thomas Edison High School of Technology offers programs that allow students to ‘experience success through hands-on learning that prepares them for college and future careers’ (Thomas Edison SOT). They have programs for those interested in human consumer services like cosmetology and other programs such as automotive and construction. In a large survey given to high school dropouts, it was found that ‘about half cited uninteresting classes as a major reason for their decision. Four out of five said they wished they’d had more opportunity to do real-world learning in high school’ (Ripley). Programs like the ones Edison offers to students will provide an opportunity for students to pursue and get ahead in the career they want for themselves. Along with it being done through a school, students will save money by not having to spend money other than any supplies needed to attend this school.

High school plays a vital role in the development of one’s personality. Complete with life skills education would change the views students would have on life. Life skills education could provide solutions associated with behavioral and emotional problems that many teens may suffer from. These courses integrated into the schools’ curriculum would be big gameplay for acquiring these skills in various situations in life. Life skills education is defined by UNICEF as ‘transferable skills that enable individuals to deal with everyday life, and to progress and succeed in school, work and societal life. They are comprised of skills, attitudes, values, behaviors and domain-based knowledge.’ While the World Health Organization (WHO) defined life skills as ‘the abilities for adaptive and positive behavior that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life.’ Though two different definitions, with the World Health Organization talking more about the positive mental aspect of life skills and UNICEF talks about like-skill education, both make points as to the great benefits of these courses. In today’s day and age, we know many teenagers suffer with mental illness or know someone who does. Teaching them proper mental health care, would help them know the proper way to take care of themselves and their loved ones. Teenagers are susceptible to forming unhealthy habits in order to cope with life. Showing students correct and healthy ways of coping with matters instead of heading towards a destructive path.

Many would argue that these types of classes are not needed and should not be added to the school’s curriculum. They state that high school teachers are not there to educate students on how to pay taxes or prepare them for the work field, that is the job and responsibility of the parent(s) of the household. The school should be focusing its resources on crucial factors such as increasing school funding, giving students more options for elective classes, and/or improving students’ test grades. Having classes like those would be distracting and ‘filling up a student’s schedule with these nearly pointless classes gives them fewer opportunities to take more advanced classes (Thompson). Not every student wants to continue forward with college, so having them continue to take these pointless classes that benefit them in no way is excessive. I wish I were able to take more courses like these in my time at high school, I would be a little more confident in what I wanted to do with my life and be prepared to live a life without the constant help of my mother. I was only able to take one course during my senior year, Career Seminar, and that is where I learned about credit card debt, the best way to budget money, how to write a good resume, what to do before, during, and after a job interview, etc. It was the only class that I truly felt was helping and going to help me in the future.

Saying these classes are ‘pointless’ and not making them a priority or giving students the option to sign up for these courses is the reason many high school graduates like me leave feeling overwhelmed with all these aspects that come with being an adult. Schools prioritize activities such as sports, music, and art over learning basic adult skills. Life skills have already been taught in many schools in the US and around the world. Only a few schools around the U.S. continue to include life-skill courses, while in other countries, life-skills programs are offered and have been introduced in schools for all different age groups. As stated in the beginning, high school is there to provide knowledge and experience to those hoping to continue with college or to those wishing to do something else after high school. It is about giving students the option of learning more than how to find the degree of an obtuse angle or how many times 6 goes into 600.

In conclusion, life skills go well beyond having students be certain about a major for college or impressing a potential employer in the future, life skills provide teenagers with important tools for development, such as critical thinking, learning to socialize, how to act when there may not be anyone else around to intervene or how to cope with personal life situations. Most of these courses like driver’s ed were a staple in high school curriculums around the United States. Back in 2001, driver’s education was dropped from public school curriculums due to either budget cuts or teachers’ and parents’ emphasis on the importance of college-ready courses and requirements. Junior year is when most students begin to embark on a mission to get their driver’s license. Not all students have access to driver’s ed classes due to the excessive cost of attending. Schools being able to provide access to opportunities like driver’s ed would make it convenient for certain students.