More than a number
70. 86. 99. What do the numbers really mean? And are these number always significant? At the end of the day, these are just numbers, and the numbers alone do not define any application.
Starting from lower grade school, kids are constantly told to “keep their grades up” and that “it will be worth it eventually.” High school students spend hours studying for the ACT/SAT and treat it like the most important part of their college applications. About 61% of middle-school students admit that the pressure of grades causes them stress or anxiety (Guide2Research).
However, that is not the biggest surprise because it is what our society has taught them. It is what educators and parents know to teach their children. Therefore, many high school students blindly follow the English rules and Mathematical formulation to score in the 99th percentile. They might not know about the applied perspective of the lesson they were supposed to learn, and it would be practical to use what they have learned and apply into real world scenarios.
There is so much pressure put on high school students: High GPA, high SAT/ ACT score, High rankings, and the list goes on. Many questions can be raised because of this pressure: Is this pressure the right thing? Is it leading students in the right direction? Can students manage it by themselves? Are students able to receive required amount of guidance by the educators? It is needed to find the answers to these questions to alleviate their pressure so that they will benefit in the learning process.
The transition from high school to college is challenging for most of the students. It is so hard for many students that it can cause them to drop out before fully being immersed in the college environment. Before talking about the solution of the problem, it is reasonable to think about the causes that generate it. If a student is unable to maintain those parallel high standards into college, one of the main reasons could be that the student could have focused so much on grades through memorizing and passive learning without truly knowing how to apply the achieved knowledge to the real-world scenarios.
There is where educators come in. Educators play an essential role to minimize the students’ problems. Even though they are already involved in teaching and learning activities, the activities can be expanded in the long run by creating collaborative projects and interactive learning environment for students to alleviate the stressful situations. The content of most of the standardized tests heavily include Mathematics and English.
After selective students take standardized tests, the knowledge is gone from their short-term memory since the way they earned it may not appropriate. Consequently, they will be unable to use it in their future career.
Even though they received 99th percentile in those standardized tests, it might be helpless in applied perspective. Educators could be an essential component to help such a group. They can involve students in hands-on exercises, experiments, and visualizations so that the learning can have an imprint in their long-term memory. For instance: Learning could be long lasting by creating visualization of every mathematical formulation in the teaching and learning process so that students can realize the applied connectivity with their daily life. As a result, the progress could be consistent from the high school to college transition.
Most importantly, students will realize that the reality of being assertive and utilizing all the tools offered will make a difference in their lives.