Yucca Valley High School Research Paper

The learning world for sophomores at Yucca Valley High School is in shambles. A very small percentage of students from this high school are likely to go to college to pursue their career. Living in an impoverished area does not help the fact that very little people from this town attend universities and get college degrees. Students are also achieving poorly with only one third of the school having a grade point average of 3.0 or above. Students need to have a chance to compete with students from other places so they, too, can go to college and be educated. A typical sophomore schedule consists of an English class, a math class, a science, World History, and physical education. Why are the students achieving poorly? There is a large gap in

Most students that responded to the survey indicated that they plan on attending college. All students who had a grade point average of 3.0 or higher said they had high interest in going to college. Even some students who had lower grade point averages said that they would like to go to college (See appendix). Students who would like to go to college also want to get scholarships. Especially in this low-income area, it is paramount that students have a financial way of going to college, otherwise they will not go (New). Most people in the economic area of Yucca Valley can not afford to pay for a full college tuition. Students also do not want to go into debt to go to college. However, the easiest way to go to college with a scholarship is to have a very high grade point average, which some students are unable to achieve. Most colleges use students with high grade point averages as their top candidates for scholarships. For some students, it can be hard to maintain a grade point average to seal their chances of getting a scholarship. The students need to achieve more in order to go to

These sophomores find that the other students are not on the same level academically as them. These sophomores are finding that the other students are immature, especially in the case of some students in World History who said that there were students laughing when people were jumping from the upper levels of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, in a video shown on the fourteenth anniversary of the attacks. These students want to know more about history than having to learn surface-level lessons that have much more depth than what is taught in the class for those who do not understand. These sophomores find that the assignments given in classes are too easy. The tests require little learning in order to pass. The students were also able to work on the test using notes and assignments that they did in class. The students have to do little work to achieve a good grade in the class, yet they do not work hard enough to get good grades. Sophomores want their assignments to be more challenging. Students in their English class wished for more challenging assignments (See appendix). They also found that the work was too easy and required little work from them. The school is not providing enough enrichment for sophomores who need more challenge so they are not bored in their classes. The classes that they are in are hard in which to