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Neal Dawson
ENGL 1102
Rebecca Weaver
April 14, 2022
Metacognition is the recognition of one’s learning. It comprises comprehending the learning process’s goals, determining the optimal learning tactics, and determining if the learning objectives are being reached. A metacognitive student views themselves as a learning agent and recognizes that learning is an active, strategic endeavour. Better learning results have been related to Metacognition. Individuals who are strategic in their learning are more likely to succeed than those who do not reflect on the process of learning. Metacognitive students, for example, are more likely to detect when what they are studying does not make sense.
The Metacognitive Knowledge
The ability to reflect on one’s ideas and experiences is presumably unique to humans; animals cannot reflect on their lives, thoughts, or deeds. Furthermore, humans are the only animals that can plan for the future, reflect on their history and learn from mistakes, and, to a certain extent, predict what will happen to them (Rock 00:03:30 – 00:03:32). They can also picture what it might be like to be someone else, which allows them to experience compassion for others.
Metacognitive knowledge is information about oneself, about mental abilities that imply awareness about how well one performs particular sorts of tasks or about one’s competency levels, understanding that may be utilized to influence cognitive functions. Metacognitive information is used to track and control cognitive processes such as thinking, understanding, problem-solving skills, and learning. Knowledge of person variables refers to understanding human learning and knowledge of one’s learning process. For example, a student knows that group conversation will be more successful than self-study at home. Knowledge of task variables entails understanding the nature of the task and the types of computational requirements that it will impose on the participant.
Metacognitive regulation
When people change their way of thinking, they engage in metacognitive regulation. It is a sequential method for controlling cognitive operations and ensuring the achievement of a cognitive objective. This dimension’s sub-dimensions include data management, scheduling, tracking, debugging, and evaluation. Metacognitive processes are characterized by the use of metacognitive methods or metacognitive control.
These processes aid in the regulation and supervision of learning, planning and monitoring of cognitive activities, and evaluating the consequences of these activities. For example, a student may question themselves if they understand the topic discussed to achieve the cognitive objective of comprehending the substance of a book. If the learner does not comprehend the subject, they may elect to reread it or split it into little units and answer the questions to grasp it better. As a result, the Metacognitive technique of self-questioning is employed to achieve the cognitive aim of studying and analyzing the material.
Metacognitive Skills
Metacognitive skills are comprised of two fundamental processes that occur concurrently: evaluating the progress of acquisition in the learning process and making modifications and adjusting techniques for improved learning. Metacognitive skills involve conscious control of learning, strategy planning and selection, monitoring students’ progress, error correction, assessing the awareness of learning methods, and altering learning behaviours and approaches as needed.
Developmental process in Metacognition
Metacognitive skills arise between the ages of three and ten, and they continue to grow throughout the years. Certain metacognitive skills, such as monitoring and assessment, appear to be more developed than others, such as planning (Lysaker et al.). Metacognitive skills and abilities develop at a basic level throughout pre-school but become more complex and intellectually focused when formal schooling involves the explicit use of a metacognitive repertoire.
To some extent, most kids gain metacognitive information and competence from their parents, classmates, and instructors, with significant diversity in their metacognitive adequacy (Lysaker et al.). However, a sizable population cannot spontaneously acquire this talent due to unfavourable conditions and an unwillingness to develop this metacognitive repertoire. Metacognitive teaching appears to improve Metacognition and learn in a wide spectrum of pupils.
Being a self-regulated learner recognizes that the capacity to acquire a skill evolves with time rather than being a fixed attribute. Students must manage their time in the learning activity, spend more time on main objective searches, and regularly remind themselves of their aim to be self-regulated learners (O’Leary et al. ). Students should be provided with the opportunity to exercise self-monitoring and adaptation to set realistic goals and improve their performance.
In the educational setting, next-generation instructors encounter a variety of obstacles. Teacher education curricula must be updated with new methodologies to meet classroom instruction issues. Metacognitive understanding assists teacher candidates in boosting pupils’ cognitive skills (Bressman et al.). As a result, emphasis should be placed on developing and accelerating cognitive capabilities among students and teachers to improve data management, promote awareness of how to organize and supervise the activities toward achieving objectives, understand possible errors in classroom instruction, and assess student achievement.
Improving Metacognition
Encourage reflexive thinking. Reflexivity is the metacognitive process of being aware of our biases, which impede healthy development. Teachers may foster a culture of deeper learning and reflexivity in their classrooms by fostering conversation that challenges human and social prejudices (David 39). Students learn to “think about their own thinking” when they debate or write articles concerning prejudices and moral difficulties in politics, money, discrimination, poverty, fairness, and freedom. They learn to question their prejudices and become more adaptable and flexible thinkers.
Allow learners to practice identifying what they don’t understand. Being perplexed and recognizing one’s lack of comprehension is a key aspect of gaining self-awareness (David 36). Take time at the end of a difficult lesson to ask, “What was most perplexing about the content we studied today?” This kick starts metacognitive processing and fosters a classroom atmosphere that accepts perplexity as an essential learning component.
In conclusion, Self-awareness is important for increased learning since it helps pupils become more effective at focusing on what they still need to learn. With age, one’s ability to think about one’s thoughts improves (Chew 00:03:59 – 00:04:15). When teachers nurture students’ skills to reflect on, monitor and analyze their learning processes, students become more self-reliant, adaptable, and effective. Students enhance their ability to analyze options and evaluate alternatives, especially when answers are not evident. When students struggle to comprehend, they use reflective skills to identify and correct their errors. Enhancing metacognitive methods relating to students’ schooling also offers young people tools to think about and improve their emotional and social lives.
Works Cited
Bressman, Sherri, Jeffrey S. Winter, and Sara Efrat Efron. “Next-generation mentoring: Supporting teachers beyond induction.” Teaching and teacher education 73 (2018): 162-170.
Chew, Steven. How to Get the Most Out of Studying: Part 1 of 5, “Beliefs That Make You Fail… Or Succeed” [Video]. Samford University (2011).
David, Bindu. “THE DEVELOPMENT OF METACOGNITION IN PRACTICE.” EDUCATIONAL EXTRACTS (2021): 35.
Lysaker, Paul H., et al. “Metacognition and recovery in schizophrenia: from research to the development of metacognitive reflection and insight therapy.” Journal of Experimental Psychopathology 10.1 (2019): 2043808718814992.
O’Leary, Allison P., and Vladimir M. Sloutsky. “Components of metacognition can function independently across development.” Developmental psychology 55.2 (2019): 315.
Rock Kane, Pearl, and Kevin Mattingly. Metacognition: Effective Teaching Strategies. 2018.
Background
As a first-year college students, one crucial thing they need to know in college is how to learn. Go to class, take notes, study those notes, and prepare for an exam if a teacher gives one. Those steps seem easy to understand, but one is more complicated than the other. Studying notes takes more than having the instructor’s words written down and memorized during the lecture. It
Discussions
Every first-year college student’s previous learning style has come from high school. The way they study developed and cemented there, but as they go through college and see that their way of learning is flawed, why not try to change it. In chapter 2 of Teach Yourself How to Learn, Saundra McGuire uses a student’s explanation of why they do not heed warnings about college in high school. “People told me that college was going to require a lot more of my time and effort, but I didn’t believe them because I had heard it before,” Says a struggling full scholarship math major at LSU (McGuire 7). What the quote is saying is that for high school students, it is hard to change their way of thinking when told because they have heard the same thing time and time again but never had needed to do so. So, it would help high school students to know the main differences between high school and college beforehand.
In “Why Good Students Do “Bad” In College: Why We Should Care and What We Should Do,” The Learnwell Projects writes about how teachers could help students become better learners. They speak of a 20/80; 80/20 rule that students go by when they learn. When a student walks into a class, they intend to absorb 80% of the knowledge out of 20% of the information. To help prevent this, The Learnwell Projects suggest instructors come at students in the past, present, and futures steps. Giving them their past would show them how in high school, they stuck with a specific study approach that was never going to help them. Next, giving them their presence is to help change their mindset on their old way of studying and help them try to adopt the 20/80 rule instead of continuing with 80/20. Lastly, when giving them their future, it would be trying to sell them a future on how much more successful they would be if they took on the 20/80 rule. These conversations that teachers should be having with students could have a significant impact because it shows from a student’s perspective that their teacher is trying to help, so they could become successful when learning.
With knowledge of the differences between high school and college and the help of some teachers, a student would still need to learn how to use their metacognition. Metacognition is the understanding of one’s thought process. When anyone attempts to learn, they always go in with their metacognition, whether weak or strong. The weaker a thought process, the less one learns. Amy Baldwin’s College success is a book that helps first-year college students feel seen and involved, and when they go over their skills and learning method, they encounter the book’s central theme; “real life doesn’t stop when college starts.” In chapter seven of this book, Baldwin uses a quote, “Becoming aware of your thought process and using this awareness deliberately is a sign of mature thinking.” This quote is like the gasoline of discovering one’s thought process because it presses one to rethink how one thinks. The book uses the example that all students have gone through, reading a page in a book and not understanding a word on the page. Some metacognitive approaches to solving that roadblock would be to try to comprehend what that student read. Like look up different words they do not understand in the paragraph, ask others that can help study, or even reading it out loud so they can understand it better (Baldwin 242). Doing these things are all examples of understanding how one learns and what to do if they ever come to a stop when studying.
Conclussion and Reccomendations
It will not just take a day to perfect when it comes to metacognition. One would have to go through a process and develop a new understanding of themselves. It helps to know from the beginning (high school) how adjusting to the new learning environment feels. A little boost from teachers would also get the job done because it makes students feel more comfortable knowing they are not being punished for not learning the correct way. Once the understands how one thinks, the process of improvement happens.
Citations
McGuire, Sandra Yancy. Teach Yourself How to Learn. Virginia: Stylus, 2018. E-Book
Baldwin, Amy. “College Success.” OpenStax, OpenStax, 27 Mar. 2020, https://openstax.org/books/college-success/pages/1-introduction.
Krista, et al. “Why Good Students Do ‘Bad’ in College: Why We Should Care and What We Should Do – the Learnwell Projects.” The LearnWell Projects – Making Learning More Visible, Manageable, and Effective, 19 Feb. 2018, https://thelearnwellprojects.com/thewell/why-good-students-do-bad-in-college-proven-insights-2/.
“How Is College Different from High School? – Accessibility Resource Center.” – Accessibility Resource Center – CSU, Chico, https://www.csuchico.edu/arc/resources/college-vs-highschool.shtml.
“Metacognition: The Skill That Promotes Advanced Learning.” YouTube, Peterson’s, 28 Apr. 2020, https://youtu.be/elZFL4FLVLE. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022.
Kayla Fowler
Dr. Weaver
English 1102
3 May 2022
Understanding the Bennett Hypothesis
According to the national center of educational statistics, “At public 4-year institutions, average tuition and fees were $9,400 in 2019–20, about 13 percent higher than they were in 2010–11 ($8,300).” This can even further complicate current and entering students in colleges’ ability to afford higher education. It is common for state funding to increase federal aid through grants, scholarships, and loans to combat the rising rates and ensure higher education to be accessible to all. Former secretary of education William Bennett popularized a belief that providing federal aid influences colleges to raise their tuition accordingly. This came to be known as the Bennett Hypothesis. Although it is believed that Bennett’s argument was reasonable, many question how it tries to explain the rising levels of tuition, its validity, and its inaccuracies.
Bennett’s well-known opinion first became popularly recognized through the New York Times opinion pages titled: “our greedy Colleges”. He declares that:” If anything, increases in financial aid in recent years have enabled colleges and universities blithely to raise their tuition, confident that Federal loan subsidies would help cushion the increase. In 1978, subsidies became available to a greatly expanded number of students. In 1980, college tuition began rising year after year at a rate that exceeded inflation. Federal student aid policies do not cause college price inflation, but there is little doubt that they help make it possible.”
There are many studies created to debunk or validate this hypothesis, each varying in results. A research paper named “The Student Aid Game: meeting need and rewarding talent in American higher education” by Michael S. McPherson and Morton Owen Schapiro from the Consortium for Policy Research in Education concludes from their research stating that “For public institutions, the effects of federal student aid differed in important ways from what we found at private institutions. We did not find any significant relationship between federal aid and instructional expenditures. We did, however, find that public four-year institutions tended to raise tuition by $50 for every $100 increase in federal student aid.” (pg.96) “Does Federal Student Aid Raise Tuition? New Evidence on For-Profit Colleges” By Stephanie Riegg Cellini and Claudia Goldin from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that “The dollar value of the premium is about equal to the amount of financial aid received by students in eligible institutions, lending credence to the “Bennett hypothesis” that aid-eligible institutions raise tuition to maximize aid.” (pg.2) Overall, most results conclude that the hypothesis is somewhat accurate.
Though it is backed by research, it can be considered that it is merely an argument based on the wrong parts of information. An article “History of Student Loans: The Bennett Hypothesis” by Richard Pallardy “Consider that Federal Stafford loan limits did not increase from 1993 to 2007 or from 2008 to the present, yet college costs continued to increase during these periods. The maximum Federal Pell Grant remained unchanged at $2,300 from 1989-90 to 1994-95, at $4,050 from 2003-04 to 2006-07 and at $5,550 from 2010-11 to 2012-13, yet college costs continued to increase. […] Some research about the Bennett hypothesis purports to find correlations with gross tuition rates or sticker prices. These results evaporate when retargeted at correlations with net tuition and net price. The correlations also disappear when re-examined at a granular level.” Through this thought process, the hypothesis could be considered only weakly tied to the previous evidence when examined further.
The bennett hypothesis has many considered accurate parts but may not be as considered accurate as a whole. The increase in tuition can occur after an increase in federal aid, but they are not always straightforwardly connected, as there are multiple aspects that are not directly examined when viewing the broader details. This argument can be considered valid, but not sound as it is not errorless.
Works Cited
Hanson, Melanie. “College Tuition Inflation Rate” EducationData.org, October 18, 2021, https://educationdata.org/college-tuition-inflation-rate
McPherson, Michael S, and Morton Owen Schapiro. “The Student Aid Game: Meeting Need and Rewarding Talent in American Higher Education.” Princeton University Press, 1998. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED431340.pdf
Cellini, Stephanie & Goldin, Claudia. (2012). Does Federal Student Aid Raise Tuition? New Evidence on For-Profit Colleges. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy. 6. 10.1257/pol.6.4.174. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228268863_Does_Federal Student Aid_Raise Tuition New Evidence on For-Profit Colleges/citation/download
Pallardy, Richard. “History of Student Loans: The Bennett Hypothesis.” Savingforcollege.com, Savingforcollege.com, 11 Mar. 2022, https://www.savingforcollege.com/article/history-of-student-loans-the-bennett-hypothesis#:~:text=Much%20of%20the%20research%20about,and%20changes%20in%20college%20prices.
Healthy fruits and vegetables
Kevin Bibiano
Professor Weaver
English 1102
30 May 2022
Importance of Nutritional Values Across Colleges
They say that Breakfast is one of the important meals of the day, alongside lunch and dinner. As students transition to colleges and universities, students have more authority in their daily life choices. This includes dietary and eating habits. A respectable number of students receive their nutrition through their school’s cafeteria, vendors, and vending machines that are offered at their campuses. However, when students begin to critique the quality or options of the food that is provided in their schools, they begin to demand reparations. Limiting these problems can open many doors to opportunities for a student’s personal improvement.
When students begin to transition to colleges and universities, they have more authority in their school life. For instance, students begin to endure maintaining their eating habits. In colleges, there are some students who do not maintain good eating habits, and this complicates the health of the individual. In the article, “A College Fast-Food Environment and Student Food and Beverage Choices: Developing an Integrated Database to Examine Food and Beverage Purchasing Choices among College Students”, Elizabeth Racine et al. Stated that: “University students report poor dietary intake [2–5], and it is well-documented that transitioning to college is associated with excess weight gain [6–8].” (Racine et al. 1) Issues like this may cause barriers to students’ health. A student’s wellness is important, therefore there is an association with even deeper issues such as weight gain or obesity. Proper dieting is a factor that leads to success in college, therefore students do not want to put their health at risk. Recine also explains how authority is now limited, and as students transition, they must be aware of their own health. ( 1) This further shows that, since students are fending for themselves, throughout college and adulthood, they should have access to more nutritional foods. This is vital for students because their health is their responsibility. Having these changes take place, not only are they important to promote better eating habits, but also for academic
Students who demand changes in their school’s nutritional system may think of the long-term benefits in grades and academic performance. For instance, there are direct effects on providing better sources such as higher test scores. According to the research performed by Michael L. Anderson, et al., “On average, student test scores are 0.03 to 0.04 standard deviations higher (about 4 percentile points).” (Anderson et al. 63) This was after the fact that colleges take the initiative to contract with healthy brands, to provide students with healthier snack options. Overall, test scores seem to be higher, when schools take nutrition into account. The overall performance in colleges is important to students, therefore, providing small changes can be an aid to the personal success of a student. This also applies to students with lower-income families, who may not have as much money to spend on school lunches. Research in, “The Quality of School Lunch and Academic Performance” states, “Not only that, but the test score increases are also about 40% larger for students who qualify for reduced-price or free school lunches.” ( 63) Students that may not have the best financial situations are also those students who seek nutrition from schools, and these students were able to get higher test scores when healthier brands were contracted in their schools. Students who do receive the right resources in food and nutrition seem to have higher rates of better grades. For example, it has been reported in,” The influence of eating habits on the academic performance of university students”, “Participants who reported having drunk seven glasses of milk or more over the past seven days reported the highest GPAs (3.60±0.37 …” (Reuter et al. 3) Those students who have those nutritional resources seem to have better averages in their GPAs, therefore, there is an association in promoting and having nutritional foods in schools. This pushes towards academic benefits, gives a greater reason to have more options and promotes quality food. To further discuss the topic at hand, Reuter says, “…with students who had fast food at least 7 times in the past week having significantly lower current GPAs than students who had not eaten any fast food in the last week (Steel-Dwass post-hoc test; p1⁄40.0007)” (5) This shows that there is a correlation on the habits and type of food you consume on your grade. This gives another important reason why students should be more careful about their diets. The effects could be worse if an unhealthy lifestyle overall is maintained, however, this is not the case for most students. Nutritional values are a must and should be considered by all teens when dining. While this is true students may also find themselves trying to better discipline their meal plans.
As the students begin to develop a sense of knowledge on a balanced diet, they begin to take these concerns and apply them to their everyday life choices. The Research study, say that “In a study by Mooney & Walbourn (2001), females avoided certain foods for their concern for weight, health and ethical reasons (especially when avoiding meat) more significantly than males.” (Deshpande et al. 147) These health concerns apply to both females and males, but when students begin to experience negative drawback from the food provided in their schools, they begin to have an open mind for the quality of their food. This is what leads to better eating habit choices. However, females in specific sometimes have some differences, where they may find themselves eating out. Bivariate analyses confirm that the mean Student Average FFH score for females is slightly higher than the mean Student’s Average FFH score for males (2.87 compared to 2.82, with slightly higher than the mean Student’s Average FFH score for males (2.87 compared to p ≤ 0.0001), Figure 2. 2.82, with p = <0.0001” (Racine et al. 6) Sometimes, students find themselves over purchasing outside food, because of social factors. Overall, the choice is for the student to make, and if they want the benefits, they will learn in the long run.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is something easier than saying, knowing the barriers and temptations in unhealthy foods that could exist. However, maintaining some sort of knowledge on a balanced diet is beneficial since people want to stay healthy. In colleges and universities, there is a toll on this because a reasonable number of students depend on the food provided on their campuses. When nutritional values are not considered, there are lots of crucial benefits from academic to healthy habit making. To review, students are not the same, and dietary styles differ amongst students, however, there are various ways that students can receive benefits from better food choices. Students should focus more on how they treat their bodies because there can be more than just the success of maintaining a healthy diet.
Work Cited
Anderson, Michael L., et al. “How the Quality of School Lunch Affects Students’ Academic Performance.” Education Digest, vol. 83, no. 6, Feb. 2018, pp. 61–64. EBSCOhost, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=a9h&AN=127089030&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Deshpande, Sameer, et al. “Factors Influencing Healthy Eating Habits Among College Students: An Application of the Health Belief Model.” Health Marketing Quarterly, vol. 26, no. 2, Apr. 2009, pp. 145–64. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/07359680802619834
Elizabeth F. Racine, et al. “A College Fast-Food Environment and Student Food and Beverage Choices: Developing an Integrated Database to Examine Food and Beverage Purchasing Choices among College Students.” Nutrients, vol. 14, no. 900, Feb. 2022, p. 900. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14040900.
Reuter, Peter R., et al. “The Influence of Eating Habits on the Academic Performance of University Students.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 69, no. 8, Nov. 2021, pp. 921–27. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1715986
Staff, Woman’s Day. “All the Heart-Healthy Foods and Nutrients Every Woman Should Add to Her Diet.” Woman’s Day, Woman’s Day, 29 Jan. 2020, https://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/advice/g1271/heart-healthy-food/.
Gal Bornstein
English 1102
Dr. Rebecca Weaver
3 March 2021
Antisemitism in Universities
There is no doubt that hatred exists in many corners of the world. College campuses are unfortunately no exception to this. This research is an analysis of modern antisemitism on college campuses. The goal of this research is to make the reader more aware of its prevalence, how it affects Jewish students, and what university administration does to handle certain incidents when they happen. One might also wonder how the administration of universities handles incidents of attacks when they do happen. It can be quite complicated to tackle these problems when they arise because of varied reasons ranging from worries of violating the rights of free speech to a lack of definition for antisemitism. But after all these incidents occur, what are some things we could implement to bring more harmony onto the campuses?
The most common reason?
When one thinks of antisemitism, they might think of something to do with the hatred of their religion or a strange conspiracy theory belief involving Jews. As was mentioned by Aryah Tuchman in the academic journal of “American Jewish History,” this is commonly referred to as “old-fashioned” antisemitism, “in which Jews are demonized and attacked for theological reasons or because of racism or conspiratorial beliefs.” (Aryah 1) However, prejudice towards Jews has changed due to anti-Zionist movements. The issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is most certainly a significant issue, tends to to often harbor antisemitic views. In a way, anti-Zionism on college campuses becomes a disguise for antisemitism. A comparison that could easily be made is the rise of Islamophobia after 9/11 because of the hijackers and the group which organized the attack being Muslim.
Emory University is one school that has had multiple accusations and incidents over the course of several decades. The 1950s saw a great deal of discrimination towards Jewish students at the university. But there have been incidents at the school in modern times. In 2014, two fraternity houses were vandalized with swastikas painted on them. As was also reported by Mark Rotenberg, a journalist for Hillel International, a Jewish organization, “Government data show that religious based hate crimes on college campuses roughly doubled between 2009 and 2017.” (Mark 1)
In 2017, the Washington Post had a reported a lawsuit that a Jewish student by the name of Jacob Mandel was filing against the California University System. The accusations were made against the university’s administration for failing to protect the Jewish students from incidents and not disciplining those were involved in incidents. “I felt afraid,” (JM 1) said Mandel to reporter Susan Svrluga. One of many incidents include, when Mandel was going for a walk one day, he happened to pass by pro-Palestinian protest on campus when one of the students approached
Impact on Jewish Students
From the readings of the sources for this paper, although the root of the anti-Zionist movement most certainly has some good arguments and should be more revered, the message seems to get skewed along the way. The reason seems to be because of the violent incidents that are reported as a result. What should be made clear though is the incidents which occur are not always physical, but also verbal. When a student is trying to walk to their class and someone threatens them along the way, it makes sense that they would feel afraid. Students who are made to feel intimidated and harassed are less likely to show up to class because they never know what will happen when they step out their door.
What does administration do?
In more extreme cases, when students did reach out to the administration, nobody was disciplined. When we look at the positive aspect, a big reason for students speaking so strongly about their views on this matter is the fact that we have free speech. When certain Jewish figures would come to a campus to give a speech, protesters would attempt to disrupt it. Universities would as a result hire security for future events.
As was mentioned by Susan Svrluga from the Washington Post, students in 2017 began a class actions lawsuit against the University System of California. The reason was that they felt the administrators were not protecting their own constitutional rights of equal protection. The Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is supposed to protect these rights of Jewish students too. This, however, was the last resort because one student in the article mentioned that he did in fact try at first to report harassment to the administration, but instead was “actively working against me” (Svrluga 1). We can look at these situations and conclude that the views are one sided, since are failing to recognize when Jewish students are being attacked.
Ideas for Moving Forward
The conclusion of this research is that universities should begin to harbor different ways of thinking on campuses. As cliché many people would think this sounds, they should probably encourage different communities to mesh more closely with each other. We hear about many student clubs that promote what their idea of peace is. It seems to be that in many ways they further divide us. In Israel, there are groups which promote the strengthening of relationships between the Israeli and Palestinian communities. Starting student clubs on campus with these intentions could be a step in the right direction.
There are still many flaws in the system as a whole. But when we look back in history of what happened in the university system in the early 1900s towards Jewish students, we can still say that we have come a long way. The most important thing is to educate people on this topic to gain awareness. Like what Black Lives Matter has taught, prejudice and racism happen right in front of us all the time and sometimes it takes someone to point it out to finally become aware of it.
Works Cited
Tuchman, Aryeh. “Antisemitism on the Campus: Past & Present.” American Jewish History 96.4 (2010): 309-I. ProQuest.
Marcus, Kenneth L. “The Resurgence of Anti-Semitism on American College Campuses: Research and Reviews.” Current Psychology 26.3-4 (2007): 206-12. ProQuest. 1 May 2022 .
Ben-Atar, Doron. “Indulging the Antisemitism of Woke.” American Jewish History 105.1-2 (2021): 225-9. ProQuest. 1 May 2022 .
Brumback, Kate. “Atlanta’s Emory Apologizes for Anti-Semitism.” The Charleston Gazette Oct 12 2012 ProQuest.
Rotenberg, Mark. “U.S. college leaders must confront anti-semitism on their campuses.” Hillel International Aug 25 2021
Svrluga, Susan. ‘I Felt Afraid’: Lawsuit Claims Public University Fostered Anti-Semitism on Campus: A Lawsuit Filed Monday Alleges that San Francisco State University Violated Jewish Students’ Right to Free Speech and Ignored Complaints of Discrimination on Campus. Washington: WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, 2017. ProQuest. 27 Apr. 2022 .
DAGMAWI BEGASHAW
ENGL 1102
DOCTOR REBECCA WEAVER
MAY 2, 2022
Effect of Employment on Student Academic Success
For many undergraduates, working is now a fundamental responsibility. Students work jobs for different reasons and vary from one student to the others. Some of the reasons why students work are as follows: To help them pay for their tuition, and personal expenses, to help a family member with bills, and for the experiences for future careers. Some students receive work-study funds as part of their financial aid packages, while others are not eligible for such funds or find that such awards are insufficient to cover the costs of attendance. As Carol Kasworm, professor of adult education at North Carolina State University, and other contributors to Understanding the Working College Student point out, work is an integral part of many students’ identities(Perna).
Well, how does employment affect the academic success of students? Students’ academic performance can be negatively and positively impacted by their employment during school. Since students have fixed time resources, time spent working might substitute for time spent on academic, social, leisure, or extracurricular activities. This can negatively affect academic performance, social integration, or student Well-being. For example, time spent working may crowd out time spent studying.
On the other hand, working has benefits that could improve academic performance for some students. Occupational activities can complement academic lessons by providing applied context, and work time could encourage students to use their time more efficiently by providing structure to students’ schedules. Working also aids in the development of soft skills that have value in both academic vocational settings, such as communication, problem-solving, adaptability, responsibility, organization, and working under pressure. Some types of work, research opportunities with professors, or jobs that employ a large number of peers, may aid in campus and social integration.
GPA is an important factor that determines whether employment affects students’ academic performance positively or negatively. One would intuitively conclude that, because time and energy are finite resources, jobs would detract from studying and be harmful to a student’s GPA. This is only the case when the student works more than 20 hours a week, according to most studies. In fact, students who work fewer than 15-20 hours often report higher GPAs than those who do not work at all (Dundes). If you ask a faculty member or administrator how much a student should work in a paying job in order to succeed academically. The answer will probably be 10-15 hours. Students who worked on campus had higher grades than those who worked off-campus, according to the research
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which is run by the U.S. Department of Education, found that students working 1-15 hours weekly have a significantly higher GPA than both students working 16 or more hours and students who don’t work at all. The NCES is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
It has been reported that 74 percent of student workers believed that employment forced them to become more efficient. However, 64 percent reported that employment also increased their level of stress Dundes and Marx(2006). Several studies concluded that only on-campus employment influenced academic performance positively. Lederman (2009) reported on a study done by Gary Pike (2004), that working more than 20 hours a week has a negative impact on students’ grades whether on or off-campus. However, the study also found that students who work 20 hours or less on campus report higher levels on all five levels of engagement used by Pike and his co-authors The positive effects of on-campus employment are due to enhanced integration with the institution, including involvement with other students and with faculty
Working more than 20 hours a week off-campus increases the likelihood of students dropping out before completing their degrees. Those who work full-time are 10 percent less likely to receive a degree than those who work part-time or don’t work at all (Orszag). However, working 20 hours or less per week on campus did not seem to have an effect on drop-out rates compared to students who did not work. Students who worked 20 hours per week or less on campus did not seem to experience a higher dropout rate compared with those who did not work. According to Astin (1975), having a part-time job on campus increases the chances of the student completing college.
The effect of academic success in school on postschool earnings appears to be smaller than older estimates suggest. But Student employment, however, has an additional, positive effect working on the campus was associated with a higher probability of enrolling in post-graduate education (Ehrenberg)
Well, how can we avoid students from spending too many hours in their jobs? There are numerous suggestions for how to help working students succeed in college. These include offering courses in the evenings, on weekends, and in distance education formats; establishing course schedules in advance; offering students access to academic advising and other support services at night and on weekends. Through career counseling and occupational placement, colleges and universities can also assist working students in connecting their educational and professional journeys.
Although working a large number of hours (20+) can be detrimental to students’ academic success, part-time (specifically on campus) jobs can be very beneficial in many ways. Working a moderate number of hours often correlates with a higher GPA. Moderate work hours are often associated with higher GPAs
It is very important for students to be aware of how many hours they work. The line between overworking and being detrimental is ambiguous, overworking may lead to decreased productivity. Many students also believe that working generally is determintal to their academic success They don’t realize that working in moderation can increase efficiency and organization and teach important skills that will augment their post collegemarketability.
Some universities like Brigham Young University have a limit of twenty hours that students can work on campus each week. A limit like this is highly suggested. Between fifteen and twenty hours a week appears to be the point at which working starts to become more detrimental than beneficial for students. Student employment offices at universities should encourage students seeking financial aid to consider part-time employment on campus. Student employment offices should also provide students with resources to learn time management. Those students who learn time management are most likely to excel in both school and work
Citation
Laura W.Perna “Understanding the Working College Student” https://www.aaup.org/article/understanding-working-college-student#.YmSAlu3MJD9
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2016). Digest
of Education Statistics, 2014 (NCES 2016-006), Chapter 3.
Dundes, L. and Marx, J. (2006). Balancing Work and Academics in College: “Why do
Students Working 10-19 Hours Per Week Exce”l? Journal of College Student
Retention, 8(1) 107-120.
Orszag, J.M, Orszag, P.R. and Whitmore D. M. (2001). “Learning and Earning: Working
in College”. Commissioned by Upromise.
Thomas J. Kane and Cecilia Elena Rouse “The Community College: Educating Students at the Margin Between College and Work”
Samuel Zajde
Dr. Weaver
English Composition 1020
27 April 2022
The Tool of Education
Starting at very young ages, children in America eagerly dream of going to college. Beyond being a dinosaur or a fire-fighter, the thought of going to a top school like MIT or Harvard to be the smartest person in the world is not an unlikely fantasy for first graders, and while its specifics may change, the soul of the dream often lives on until the very end of a student’s career. Universities are seen as places that can mold us into the people that we want to be and a gate way to grasping the things we want most in our careers. Long has this sentiment been at large, but its scope has had far greater limitations in the past. Higher education was not always considered as something for the many, and much effort had to be pressed on for it to be developed beyond its exclusivity. There were immense reasons for the United States government to do this not among them any substantial political mandate pleading for it specifically. It was instead seen as a tool: not particularly to harness ambition, but to combat rampant poverty and enhance racial integration. The Higher Education Act was one of the most consequential pieces of legislation concerning the relationship between universities and the federal government bringing higher-ed into mainstream American society.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 was enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson in continuance of his policy campaign known as the ‘War on Poverty.’ The founding goals of this legislation was to significantly escalate the federal government’s role in providing higher education to Americans, and the desire to do this in the context of the ‘War on Poverty’ is because of education’s innate ability to increase economic opportunity. As stated according to David Brown from the University of Kentucky in his article “We have opened the road”: A Brief History of the Higher Education Act, “the Higher Education Act was envisioned as a vehicle for increasing opportunities for traditionally underserved groups, such as racial and ethnic minorities and the economically disadvantaged, to gain access to higher education.” This would not be the first time that higher-ed would be used as an instrument to fight poverty in a grand scope: the NYA, or the National Youth Administration, was a New Deal Program that existed from 1935 to 1943 under President Roosevelt with the goal of offering work and education to those between 16 and 25. In the midst of the Great Depression, the goal of the administration was akin to the HEA (Higher Education Act) which was to offer gateway for unemployed youth to not only be given jobs but training and education required to do them.
The reforms brought by the Higher Education Act proved to be of great consequence to American society, with many of its programs continuing to exist and be amended to answer a still-developing political vision of how higher education should be perceived and valued. Before it’s signing, President Johnson said “So to thousands of young people education will be available. And it is a truism that education is no longer a luxury” (Johnson 1965). The intention was to transform universities from being a barriered club of elites into an accessible asset any American from any background could choose to attend. Economic aid in the form of grants was offered to both institutions and individuals who did not have the ability to attend college with their own means, as can be seen from this excerpt of the law:
“It is the purpose of this part to provide, through institutions of higher education, educational opportunity grants to assist in making available the benefits of higher education to qualified high school graduates of exceptional financial need, who for lack of financial means of their own or of their families would be unable to obtain such benefits without such aid.” (P.L. 89-329)
To summarize the operational funding of the HEA, funds were endowed by the federal government to each state, which were delegated to form specific agencies that distributed grants to qualified higher education institutions. The grants were then used to develop or maintain universities, and Title IV of the law established provisions for grants to be awarded to individual high school graduates in need of them.
Fundamentally, the principle of providing economic assistance to students has persevered since the law’s creation, but its implementation has been modified many times often for better or worse. In the late-1970s and 80s, a policy shift had taken place that began to favor loans to provide financial aid instead of grants. As again stated according to David Brown, “starting with the Middle Income Student Assistance Act (MISAA) in 1978, federal policy began to favor loans rather than grants.” (Brown 2016). After the HEA was established, these policy changes pulled higher education away from socialization and towards privatization. Since then, the price of attending college has increased substantially, far outpacing mean household income. The decrease in government subsidies lead to institutions increasing their tuition, and while grant funding also decreased, students began to rely more and more on loans to cover the costs. It has become clear that the original mission outlined by the HEA to use higher education as a weapon against poverty has been drastically altered. Whether or not it is helping people economically, attending college is presently certainly not seen that way, or is at least very rarely spoken about as a serious economic help for the poor and underserved groups.
The United States has come a long way since 1965, and higher education has certainly changed both being improved and impaired into the vast and powerful institutions they have become today. However different times may be, the founding mission that the Higher Education Act set out to accomplish still today has value. It would be costly unfortunate for such a commanding force such as education to be overlooked for its ability to shape macroeconomic and social struggles in our communities.
Works Cited:
Johnson, L.B. (1965): “Remarks at Southwest Texas State College Upon Signing the
Higher Education Act of 1965,” November 8, 1965. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project. Retrieved from http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/? pid=27356
Higher Education Act of 1965 Section-by-Section Analysis. Washington,
D.C.:U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education, 1965.
Brown, D. (2016). “We have opened the road”: A Brief History of the Higher Education
Act. Higher Education in Review, 12, 1–7.
Mckee, Guian A. Lyndon B. Johnson and the War on Poverty, https://prde.upress.virginia.edu/content/WarOnPoverty2.
David Jeffries
4/24/22
Weaver
EngL 1102
Community colleges are an especially important part of high ed. These colleges provide a solid foundation for many students that seek further education. Now with so many students’ academic futures being based on their success at community college, it has become very important to identify and become aware of the issues inflicted by the Covid Pandemic. Only once students identify these issues and overcome them, will they begin to become successful in higher ed.
Higher ed is an interquel part of society and economics. Jobs and careers that require further education are core keystones in the functions of the world. With no capable Doctors the human life span will decline; without any viable architects, homes would become unsafe to live in. We need capable lawyers to represent us in court because without them many people would become suspectable to unjust court rulings. Community colleges provide many opportunities for those who are otherwise unable to delve into these Career pathways due to affordability issues and other school-life balance issues. So, the negative effects of the COVID pandemic become even grander issues when they begin to create problems for Community college students. Students of these intuitions need to be made aware of these problems so that they can plan their higher ed journey accordingly and try to avoid these problems to the best of their ability.
Many Students look to Community colleges for financial relief but with changes in the economy due to covid many students may still need to drop out of college due to money problems. The Center for Community College Student Engagement wrote an article compiling data on the impact of covid on these students. When students were asked about the types of problems that would lead to their withdrawal it was stated that,” 77% of respondents reported that a lack of finances could be such an issue” (Impact of Covid, 5). With the economy taking a hit so did the pockets of many students with The Center for Community College Student Engagement stating that “Twenty-eight percent (n=1,273) of respondents described their household’s financial situation in fall 2020 as worse than it was before the pandemic” (Impact of Covid, 5). Finances have always been a problem for many college students but now Community colleges are unable to adequately subside these financial issues for many.
When students were financially stable and able to stay in school, there were still many COVID caused issues that impaired learning. Mental Health issues and motivation issues made it very difficult for students to remain focused and devoted to higher ed. Christopher Prokes & Jacqueline Housel state in their research paper, “Community College Student Perceptions of Remote Learning Shifts Due to COVID-19″, that “Students commented directly on their mental health citing that they felt depressed Some students directly wrote about their mental health: depressed, anxious, sad”(Prokes and Housel, 7). Prokes and Housel also state in reference to surveyed students that “others more indirectly talk about their lack of motivation and drive to complete their studies (Prokes and Housel, 9).” Without mental stability and ample motivation students may find it difficult to perform well in a college setting.
With the rise of virtual learning due to mandated isolation many students found themselves just not suited for education over the internet. Prokes and Housel collected many student responses, many of whom prefer face to face learning. These students gave many responses detailing their experience with virtual learning such as, “Less class discussion to less ability to understand the content… Felt isolated and detached from education, I am f2f learner… Virtual was harder that the teacher-student connection in class… Not able to build connections with classmates and professor (Prokes and Housel,10).” Connecting to students is an important part of teaching and most teachers have not learned how to create bonds and connect in a digital setting. This can lead to students not being able to acquire information in class as well as they would in a face-to-face setting.
All of these issues that affect community college students come together, compound, and lead to a large decline in community college enrollment. The PPIC (The Public Policy Institute of California) details these declines in its research blog, “The Pandemic’s Effects on Higher Education.” With enrollments down 25% the PPIC states that, “Community college students tend to have fewer economic resources than other college students and were more likely to have been negatively affected by the pandemic” (PPIC, 1). With the increasing number of students opting out of further education the climate of the workforce as well as career pathways may begin to shift greatly.
The COIVD pandemic causes many problems for Community college students, for many students it’s perhaps to much to handle. These colleges need to find new ways to adapt so that its students can become more successful. Some may argue that community colleges already do enough for people in regards of support in stability. Federal aid, flexible learning schedules, and less pressure being some of the ways these institutions try to help. However, during the pandemic many people are forced to stretch and “wear different hats”, why shouldn’t Community colleges? It is not these colleges’ total responsibility to turn all of their students’ lives around, but these intuitions should continue to support their students and communities. There are many ways to accomplish this goal and make student lives just a little easier. Free pandemic counseling coupled with online support groups would go a long way to keep students motivated and boost their morale. People of similar living and financial situations seeing each other, and interacting would allow for students to not feel alone. Updated and well-maintained purified air systems would give students that choose to go back to face to face learning a great piece of mind. It is up to everybody to work together to help provide a better higher ed experience.
Cite
Center for Community College Student Engagement. The Impact of COVID-19 on Entering Students in Community Colleges, Center for Community College Student Engagement, 2021, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613823.pdf.
Prokes, Christopher. Housel, Jacqueline. Community College Student Perceptions of Remote Learning Shifts Due to COVID-19.TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=151333113&S=R&D=eue&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHr7ESeqLI4v%2BbwOLCmsEqep7VSsai4SbGWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOXp80m549%2BB7LHjfPEA.
Saul, Stephanie. “The Pandemic Hit the Working Class Hard. The Colleges That Serve Them Are Hurting, Too.” The New York Times, 20 April 22, p.1, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/politics/covid-19-colleges.html
Chamlou, Nina. “The Effects of COVID on Community Colleges and Students.” Affordable colleges., 20 April 22, p.1, https://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/news/covid-and-community-college/
We have all heard this question asked at least once in grade school. “Is this going to be on the test?”, if the teacher said yes, you probably wrote the information; if the professor said “No” chances are, you didn’t write it down. The traditional a,b,c,d,f grading system, has made students shallow learners, unmotivated students to learn, and is causing more harm than good. We have talked about in class how this vague way of grading affects students. This grading system promotes students cutting corners to getting the best grade, instead of taking the time to learn the information.
Students once or twice, have cut corners to get a good grade. Whether it was simply taking an easier project to do or taking an easier course for a better GPA. In the video “Why grades shouldn’t exist”, Professor Alfie Kohn says “We don’t have to have grades. Research shows that grades have three effects; one, they make students less interested in whatever they are learning for a grade. Two, they become less likely to pick something more difficult. After all, if the point is to get an “A”, you’re gonna choose the shortest book or the easiest project, because that makes it more likely you’ll get the “A”. Three, when students are graded, they tend to do things in a more shallow or superficial fashion. They’re less likely to really push and reflect…”. Professor Alfie Kohn explains in his quote why grades are leading students to become shallow.
Instead of students being categorized by using the same way, factories have been grading their chunks of meat, students should be graded by truly being assessed. With a shallow grading system, like most schools around the USA has, it’s no wonder why the students in the system are being taught, how to be just as shallow. Students should be assessed by finding what level learner you’re currently, finding their strengths and weaknesses and how they can improve. Not represented by numbers and not represented by a vague letter. In the scholarly article “The changing of landscape of grading systems in US higher education” says “Furthermore, it may be time that we reconsider the value of higher education and begin to focus more on the process than the outcome.”. Letter grades and GPAs focus on the outcome of the student, not at all on the student’s commitment and progression. The traditional US grading system doesn’t show the sleepless nights of studying, it doesn’t show how much time and effort a student has put in. Letter grades just show how good a student is at taking tests. Students start prioritizing how to get good grades instead of being curious and learning, like higher education is meant for.
The traditional grading system can also lead to harm. It can cause students to be unethical and start cheating in higher education. It is well known that cheating only cheats students out of the information that could be learned, but grades are prioritized instead of learning so students’ cheat. Students that take the time the study will get lower grades than students who cheat. That causes more students to cheat. The grading system wires students to think that grades are more important rather than the actual information taught. Students forget why they really go to school. Not to get grades, not to go to the most prestigious schools to get good grades, the purpose is to learn and use your curiosity.
Some professors believe if there were no grades then students then students wouldn’t prioritize their work. This is a form of coercion. Forcing students to be graded so that they learn about topics they have no personal interest in. Professor Alfie Kohn from the “Why Grades shouldn’t exist” video, believes that skilled professors are able to get students interested in topics without having to force grades on them. Professor Kohn does not agree with students being bribed into learning with grades.
Students should be taught how to be curious, and how to integrate that curiosity into the real world. Students should have a desire to learn, so they get satisfaction from it rather than getting good grades. The traditional grading system does more harm than good, students lose the desire to learn and be curious. In order to stop students from being shallow, you have to change the shallow system.
Works cited
Steven B. Kleinman, Mary Beth Leidman & Andrew J. Longcore (2018) The
changing landscape of grading systems in US higher education, Perspectives: Policy and Practice
in Higher Education, 22:1, 26-33, DOI: 10.1080/13603108.2017.1279692
https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2017.1279692
“Why grades shouldn’t exist.”. Youtube, uploaded by “Fiddlestick Productions” 21 Feb 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfRALeA3mdU&t=19s