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The effects of parental involvement on academic performance
The effects of parental involvement on academic performance
The effects of parental involvement on academic performance
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American high schools today have lost track of what the purpose of going to school is. The article, “Let’s Really Reform Our Schools,” written by Anita Garland, explains how we can help our schools and make them a better learning place. In order to get high schools to be a better place to learn would be to throw out the “punks”, have the schools get uniforms, change junk foods to healthy foods, and get rid of prom and competitive sports. After all of this, the students who want to learn, can do that without all of the distractions. First, Garland states, “We must stop allowing the attendance of so-called students who are not interested in studying.” By getting rid of the delinquents from the schools, students who want to learn and do well in school can have a chance to do so. Punishing students who keep getting in trouble by suspending them will only allow them to continue to be a distraction, and by not expelling them, they will keep acting out because they do not want to be in school. By “allowing” these …show more content…
This doesn’t help kids focus in the classroom for hours after consuming these fatty and sugary foods. The kids will get a sugar high but then crash hours after and won’t be focusing in class but instead, falling asleep during an important lesson. Anita states that, “school cafeterias, of all places, should demonstrate how a healthy, low-fat, well-balanced diet produces healthy, energetic, mentally alert people,” and teaching this at high schools is the best place to change the food because in this generation, kids are becoming overweight and unhealthy because of all the “junk food” they are eating. Teenagers in high school tend to eat more when they are stressed, so if they serve unhealthy foods in the cafeterias then the student will eat the “junk food”, but if the “junk” is switched with fruits, vegetables, and some salads then the students wouldn’t have the sugar high and be focused
The article "Let`s Really Reform Our Schools" by Anita Garland discuss the trouble faced by American High Schools. According to her, students are more concerned about their looks than learning, and this results in poor academic performance. She states that there is a need for American High Schools to be completely restructured. The worst students must be kicked out of the schools because they are troublemakers, and they distract others, which includes their fellow students, teachers, and administrators. Troublemakers lack fear of suspension from school, and suspension from school doesn’t improve their behavior. Troublemakers do not care about punishments at all. After all, they don’t want to be in the school, and they are not learning anything
The purpose of Rebecca Solnit’s “Abolish High School” is to criticize the present high school system along with the emotional and academic strain it puts on developing minds. Solnit’s intended audience is any educated person with the opportunity to voice their opinions on the current approach to schooling.
High school is the stepping stone between childhood and the real world. John Dewey spent most of his life striving to improve this transition. He believed high schools were not preparing students for the needs of society by merely teaching the basics, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. Dewey argued that high schools “must present situations where problems are relevant to the problems of living together, and where observation and information are calculated to develop social insight and interest.” This type of education would create socially-responsible citizens who have the ability to work together and solve societal issues; in turn, America’s democratic society would flourish. With this said, high schools continue to ignore Dewey’s suggestions,
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
Changes need to be made in American school systems. In fact, once American schools are reformed it would make it easier for those who want to learn receive an education. In the essay, “Lets’ Really Reform Our Schools” by Anita Garland, Garland explains why schools need to be reformed. Garland claims that American schools are in trouble and that they are a disaster. Garland also mentions that we need to restructure our thinking about the whole purpose of going to school and what one should expect from students. To start off, attendance shouldn’t be mandatory and one must stop forcing everyone to attend school. Next, cafeteria lunch is always a big problems with students. Students are hyped up with all
If schools were to encourage healthy eating by serving a more variety of foods students would learn to like healthy eating. In the study done by Julianna Cecere she asked students through the social media app Twitter to tweet her their opinions on their school lunches and most of them were not in favor of them. One Student tweeted: “@KQEDedspace To make school lunches more appealing we need flavorful yet healthy foods. Things that are home grown, not canned. #DoNowLunch” (Cecere, 2014) Students want to have better eating habits and it 's best to teach them at a young age so they grown up to live a healthy lifestyle and live longer but not when the food is canned and not
Many individuals have been affected negatively by trouble makers in school. Troublemakers have either disrupted classes or bullied other students. Yes, trouble makers may harm one’s learning environment, but should they be kicked out of school? Though many individuals argue that troublemakers will not change and hold the class down, they should not be kicked out because they need help. Most of these kids that are disobedient do not know the distinction between right and wrong. We should not withdraw trouble makers from school, rather, we should help these troublemakers and teach them right from wrong. In the article “Let’s Really Reform Our Schools” by Anita Garland, she states that American high schools are disasters because there are troublemakers (694). She asserts that the withdrawal of troublemakers in schools would make the learning environment peaceful for students who want to learn
Somewhere in America a parent is asking their child what they learned at school today, the child will most likely say that they didn’t learn much. It is sad to say that with today’s education system, this is true. The K-12 school system has oppressed students far more than it has liberated them, and this must change if America wants to produce members of society that actually have something to contribute. Students graduate high school having learned how to play the “game” of school leaving them grossly unprepared for college. Students should leave high school with a base of knowledge and strategies they can employ to succeed in college if that is where they wish to go, but instead they come to college knowing how to line up quietly and copy
Unhealthy foods are what make the money for schools and that is why they serve them for students. (Schlafy) Schools feel like they need the extra money in the budget, even though it is at the student’s expense. Data shows that nearly 60% of all middle schools in the US serve soda from vending machines. (Schlafy) Soda is very high in sugar and is not at all good for children, but it is still sold in school vending machines. The ways food in schools is now are way too high in fats and sugars. This is not good for the children and very bad in the long run. Elementary schoolchildren have an estimated $15 billion of their own money that they can use to buy whatever they want in schools, and parents have almost another $160 billion to give students for food money. (Schlafy) Big businesses see this as a big source of profit and therefore encourage children to buy their products, and want them to be offered in school because of th4e likelihood of children buying the business’s product. All in all, obesity in the US is greatly influenced by the foods offered in schools
Food To Students." Points Of View: Junk Food In Schools (2013): 2. Points of View
Allowing healthier school lunches will decrease obesity in children because it will give them the proper nutrition to reduce the risk of health issues. Since obesity causes many health issues, maintaining a proper nutrition will reduce the risk of health issues. According to Star- Telegram, a daily newspaper that serves Fort Worth and areas of North Texas states, “[School lunches that have] a meal of pizza sticks, a banana, raisins and whole milk has given way to whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce, a whole wheat roll green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi and low-fat milk … This change will help more than 2.4 million Texas students who receive a free or reduced- price school lunch to lead healthier, more active lives—in and out of the classroom”(Par. 2 and 4). School lunches are supposed to guarantee students a well balance meal, so they can have the energy to proceed with their classes throughout the day. Meanwhile, students who receive a f...
So as to improve the K-12 education, the United States needs to redesign the high schools. The initiative by the president to redesign the high schools is significant in encouraging the schools to use the available resources. Schools together with their partners should take into using the resources that exist effectively. These resources are in the local, state and the federal so as to transform the experience in the high schools for the youth through energy of the whole school redesign. This effort of redesigning the high schools will help challenge them and their partners in rethinking learning and teaching. These reforms should constitute of learning that is personalized and college and career exploration that will ens...
Having different food can affect a child health. There are milky ways, cake, cookies, pizza and lets just add some French fries in there and call that lunch. Don’t forget the drink sweet tea, pop and milk that one doesn’t choose to drink it. The students would go back to the class rooms after twenty minutes and be hungry at the end of the da. Garland said, “Instead, we allow school cafeterias to dispense the same junk food that kids could buy in any mall” (621). There has been so much junk food and soft drinks in schools that makes the student health unsafe and a distraction to their education. Garland mentioned that the students are filling up with fat, salt and sugar rather than filling up with fruit, whole grains and vegetables. Schools should be about healthiness, and well balanced diets. With having Students eat healthy can boost up their energy and ability to learn. With that being said when I was in high school it was nothing but junk food for three years. When Michele Obama changed the law on the school lunches my senior lunches have changed. It was nothing but healthy food like whole grain, no sweets, two scoops of fruits and vegetables. At Odessa they had a school store loaded with junk food that would be sold out by forth period. When the law came to the school there was nothing but baked chip and replaced with other baked nutrition food or we had nothing at all. The drink machines were changed out
The limited experience that a high schooler receives does not give them the opportunities that they deserve. Also, the general information that is taught to students does not apply to their needs; this information does not allow them to find their path in which they want to live their lives. In addition, a democratic education system is not portrayed throughout high school. Relationships between students and teachers are nonexistent, and students are dropping out of high school as a result. Our society is full of unsuccessful human beings that have no idea of how to live their life. This is what our education system has created. Now, we must make the change and stick to Dewey’s educational
The expectations and standards for kids in America are too low. The low expectations of students are encouraging them to slack off or not give their education their best efforts. Many states are making tests and curricula easier so it looks like their students are performing really well, when in reality they are just being given easy material (“Bursting bubbles; Education…”). After school activities are another factor in low academic performance. While jobs and sports provide many benefits, school is the number one priority for kids. Not enough emphasis is put on this by teachers and parents (“Shortchanging students: How…”). Parents are contributing to the low expectations by not paying enough attention to how their kids are doing in school, also. Parents should be rewarding children for achievements and punishing them for failures instead of ignoring what is happening in their child’s life. If kids know that they won’t be punished or rewarded then they won’t try their hardest, because they know it doesn’t matter. Students have reported that they think grades aren’t important, they don’t try their hardest, or are afraid of what their friends migh...