When we talk about college, we often speak of its problems. We, as an intelligent society question what we have been doing. Question if a college education is worth what we are giving. This is not the first time this institution has been questioned, and it will likely not be the last; it should not be the last. People today are constantly questioning how we can reform education. The problem today is there are a lot more problems identifying what needs to be changed then there are finding solutions. Unfortunately, finding the problem is the first step to fixing things. In her well-worded article “A New Course”, this appeared in The American Scholar in 2013, Magdealena Kay talks of the different issues commonly pointed out in higher education.
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As Vicki Zakrzewski explains, “[T]he fear of failure is directly linked to your self-worth, or the belief that you are valuable as a person… students will put themselves through unbelievable psychological machinations in order to avoid failure”. Students are digging themselves into holes because they don’t know any other way to preserve their self-worth. This is, to say the very least, unhealthy. The response students may have to this fear can easily be categorized as anxiety. As Bledsoe and Baskin from Azusa Pacific Univirsity put it, “…[fear] sits there like an invisible elephant, crushing the breath out of a student’s self-efficacy, motivation, and engagement…” they go on to define fear the perception of “direct peril” and anxiety as the perception of “imagined danger”. In their essay Bledsoe and Baskin also state that even though fear and anxiety have difference meanings they will be using “the terms… interchangeable” because “the responses to them are often similar the perception of the threat is real”. With fear and anxiety to slosely linked it’s not so suprising that this fear “can have long-term consequences” (Zakrzweski). Of course while the mental health effects of this fear is inhibiting to learning in a healthy way, a fear of failure also keeps students from learning in other …show more content…
While this might seem a more idle threat than that of mental health problems, it is still part of a larger problem, and a bigger picture. Students attend school, or are intended to attend school, for the betterment of themselves –and by extension, their community. With large tests starting with younger and younger grades, it’s no wonder many students have high test anxiety. As Bloom states about testing anxiety “While other forms of fear tended to decrease with age, text anxiety typically increased as pupils progressed through school”, in other words, while a child scared of snakes may love them by the time they’re adults, a child scared of tests –and failing tests—may, and likely will, continue to be terrified of them through adulthood. Not should this fear raise a cause for concern, but the fact that many students do not remember the significance of historical events, or know different ideologies, because they only remembered the answer for a test they have long since taken, should also be something addressed. Yes, people do not need to know the exact year Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream Speech” but they do need to know what the significance of the speech was, and why we should still hold its ideals. With those facts forgotten, it’s all the more likely that drinking fountains, restaurants, and stores will be segregated in the future. Accepting failure
As Vicki Zakrzewski explains, “[T]he fear of failure is directly linked to your self-worth, or the belief that you are valuable as a person… students will put themselves through unbelievable psychological machinations in order to avoid failure”. Students are digging themselves into holes because they don’t know any other way to preserve their self-worth. This is, to say the very least, unhealthy. The response students may have to this fear can easily be categorized as anxiety. As Bledsoe and Baskin from Azusa Pacific Univirsity put it, “…[fear] sits there like an invisible elephant, crushing the breath out of a student’s self-efficacy, motivation, and engagement…” they go on to define fear the perception of “direct peril” and anxiety as the perception of “imagined danger”. In their essay Bledsoe and Baskin also state that even though fear and anxiety have difference meanings they will be using “the terms… interchangeable” because “the responses to them are often similar the perception of the threat is real”. With fear and anxiety to slosely linked it’s not so suprising that this fear “can have long-term consequences” (Zakrzweski). Of course while the mental health effects of this fear is inhibiting to learning in a healthy way, a fear of failure also keeps students from learning in other …show more content…
While this might seem a more idle threat than that of mental health problems, it is still part of a larger problem, and a bigger picture. Students attend school, or are intended to attend school, for the betterment of themselves –and by extension, their community. With large tests starting with younger and younger grades, it’s no wonder many students have high test anxiety. As Bloom states about testing anxiety “While other forms of fear tended to decrease with age, text anxiety typically increased as pupils progressed through school”, in other words, while a child scared of snakes may love them by the time they’re adults, a child scared of tests –and failing tests—may, and likely will, continue to be terrified of them through adulthood. Not should this fear raise a cause for concern, but the fact that many students do not remember the significance of historical events, or know different ideologies, because they only remembered the answer for a test they have long since taken, should also be something addressed. Yes, people do not need to know the exact year Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I Have a Dream Speech” but they do need to know what the significance of the speech was, and why we should still hold its ideals. With those facts forgotten, it’s all the more likely that drinking fountains, restaurants, and stores will be segregated in the future. Accepting failure