Ready to Learn

-Ursula Fox-Koor
In-depth education story




The lights were fluorescent. All the seats were taken. Syllabi were being handed out. The auditorium was filled with over 300 students. Brendan Jessop was not ready for this.

Jessop, a freshman at West Virginia University and graduate of Ithaca High School, says that his high school experience did not prepare him for college. “There’s so much more work in college. You dedicate a lot more time to it but you also you have to know how to spend your time wisely,” he said.

Freshmen on campuses across the country are facing the same problem as Jessop. More and more students are realizing that having a high school diploma does not necessarily guarantee being prepared for college. According to a survey conducted by Achieve, Inc., as many as four in ten high school graduates are not prepared. Professors agree, estimating that 42% of their students are not adequately prepared, according to the survey.

Jessop’s experiences prove these results to be true. The Tompkins County alumni says he wishes that his high school workload had been harder. “They teach you some what, but they could increase the workload, you know tell you what you’re going to experience, give at least somewhat of an idea compared to college,” he says.

But this isn’t a problem only for Ithaca High School students. Students from other high schools who have chosen to attend college in Tompkins County say they are facing the same problem.

Kenny Delgado, a freshman Integrated Marketing Communications major at Ithaca College says he had no idea how different the college workload would be. “High school was a joke,” he said. “It was how much could you do before the class began; you’d do your homework during the school day, but now it’s completely different because I have so much more work… I’m really having trouble adjusting to it.”

Alex Hardy, a freshman at Ithaca College, agrees. He was prepared for the lifestyle change of college, but not the academics. “As far as the classroom, I wasn’t fully prepared,” he said.

So why are so many college freshman feeling unprepared? The study faults high schools’ standards and low expectations. According to the Achieve, Inc. study, only 24% of high school graduates reported that they faced high expectations in high school. Areas such as reading, research, mathematics and writing are all areas in which many high school graduates wish they could have been more prepared.

Jessop says that his high school curriculum in Ithaca “could have been better for English and writing papers. I never really learned how to construct a well- formatted paper.”

This lack of preparation has led many high schools to adjust their expectations of students by adding more honors and Advanced Placement courses in order to raise the standards for graduation. Schools hope these changes will better prepare students for their future college endeavors.

Jessop wishes Ithaca High School had implemented these standards while he was a student and thinks he would have made more of an effort had there been higher expectations. “You can bullshit your way through everything, but you can’t coast in college if you want to get something from it,” he said.

For more information, check out these articles from Education Week and The Apple.



Brendan Jessop, an Ithaca High School alumni, felt inadequately prepared for his courses at West Virginia University.