School is meant to prepare students for the future. They meet new people, learn things about themselves and get taught on core world topics. The key word is preparation. Everyone wants to be successful and most often school gets us prepared for being successful for the future. But, is Park doing a good job preparing students for the future? I think there’s work that needs to be done and points of emphasis need to be realigned.
Park has less opportunities to take an AP course compared to other schools in the area. AP credits are very beneficial to students going to college after highschool. It saves students that pass the test thousands of dollars which benefits them even after college with limiting student debt. AP classes are also crucial for getting into top universities and colleges in the country. Yes, we have IB classes but the top schools prefer AP credits over IB and throughout the system AP takes president. Having less of those classes limits the students’ abilities. In the past our school has even tried to eliminate more AP classes. Freshman year, I took a survey that asked if a freshman AP class should be removed. It shouldn’t even be a question why would remove an asset for students to gain credits and have the ability to get into higher level schools.
Next is putting more of an emphasis on career and college readiness. I know at other schools in the area they have colleges go and speak or set up a booth. We’ve had one college fair in my time at Park. Connections are meant to promote preparation but we do nothing in that class. It’s just not very organized. Students should have control of their process but I believe it’s also very beneficial especially for some students to have someone on the side for help. The only time we have talked about our college and career was freshman year in connections and over the years in class. One great thing the highschool has is the internship program that is able to set students up with internships at fortune 500 companies. Which is very beneficial to the readiness of some students. They have also done a decent job getting the word out on it. College readiness resources haven’t been advertised to all students.
Lastly, I think there is a lack of discipline at the highschool which does not prepare students for the future. There are constant fights, people skipping class and more. These things won’t fly in the future in a workplace because it doesn’t benefit anyone. There are never any consequences because a lot of the time it’s the same people skipping class. In ten years when you decide to skip work you won’t have a job, thus won’t be able to survive. Park isn’t preparing for the real life aspect. Park could implement a detention system that would have consequences for kids. It would create more discipline and in the school therefore getting students prepared for the real world.
There’s work to be done to make sure that students can be as successful as possible. There needs to be more priority instead of passing high school to getting students prepared for life past highschool because that ultimately matters most. This could mean implementing more college fairs into the year and advertising them. Park could also increase education on the college process, money and how to get scholarships. I think it could be very beneficial to students that have their eyes set on the college path and be prepared for it.
