BronxTalk: Are New York Students College-Ready?
According to a report recently released by New York State education officials, most graduating New York high school students are not ready to attend college. In New York City, only 23 percent of graduating seniors were prepared to attend college or to begin a career. (Report) We asked Bronx students if they felt New York students were ready for college.
Jasmine Rodriguez, 27
John Jay College
Q: When you finished high school, did you feel college-ready?
A: “I don’t think I was ready. I had to take remedial classes before actually taking college courses because of low grades on my SATs and overall grades in school.”
Q: Did you feel like the NYC Department of Education only prepared you for passing tests?
A: “I felt pressure from the teachers and my parents to pass tests like the Regents, ‘You won’t be able to attend a good college.'”
Q: What changes would you like to see?
A: “I would like to see high schools give more kids hands-on training with college courses of their choice. You have some programs but not everybody takes advantage of it.”
Calvin Henderson, 23
B.C.C. graduate
Q: Were you prepared for college after high school?
A: “I felt prepared for college straight from the start. I felt no matter what college would take an adjustment for me, but I was going to make it work.”
Q: Did you feel like the NYC Department of Education only prepared you to pass tests, instead of focusing on the curriculum?
A: “I never got that feeling because I was prepared to pass any test they gave me. You still need to pass the SATs and Regents to get into college. Remember test scores make you look smart or dumb.”
Q: What changes would you like to see?
A: “In my opinion, it depends on the individual instead of the school or the state to change these numbers.”
Jose Pagan, 25
Attended college in Orlando, Florida
Q: Were you prepared for college after finishing high school down in Florida?
A: “I had to drop out of college because I found the college work very difficult. The curriculum was very different from high school.”
Joseph Bodden, 24
Construction manager, Lehman College
Q: Were you prepared for college after finishing high school?
A: “They prepared me for a CUNY school, but not for a UPenn or Harvard. That’s for sure. When I took the SAT, there was so much information I’d never seen. I feel students who went to better schools were exposed to the material.”
Ashley Burgos, 22
Q: Do you think that if you went to a different high school, you would have been prepared for college?
A: “Hell no! Catholic School is great because failing is not an option. If you failed during the academic school year and then failed again during the summer make up classes you get kicked out of school.”
Savannah Irizarry, 21
Q: Do you think your high school did a good job preparing you for college?
A: “No I was not prepared even a little bit. The guidance counselors were trying to befriend all the students instead of helping them. So they wouldn’t push as hard.”
Michael Vasquez, 21
Q: Do you think your high school did a good job preparing you for college?
A: “We had college prep classes, and I took college credit courses as well, but I was still afraid that the actual college experience would be too hard.”
Cynthia Perello, 24
Lehman College, Sociology
Q: Are New York high school students college-ready?
A: “It can depend on the family’s economic situation. If the family is able to afford a private education for their children then maybe they will have access to a better education compare to pubic school students. In the last couple of years students have been taught to pass and exam versus learning the schools’ material.”
Lisbeth Santana
Lehman College, Business
Q: Are New York students college-ready?
A: “Yes, I had sufficient academic support and an excellent counselor who explained to me what to expect from college.”
Lennin Reyes, 22
Q: Do you feel that high school prepared you for college?
A: “That’s a tough question. Concerning academics, I felt that they were playing catch up from junior high school.”
Q: How was your transition from high school to college?
A: “I took a semester off, but when I started it was much harder mentally than academically. High school to college transitions are a pain, community college helped me more than high school.”
Desiree Mensah
Lehman College
Q: Do you feel that high school prepared you for college?
A: “No! Teachers don’t teach you the skills needed for college. I felt like teachers pushed me, rushed me through high school just to get their job done.”
Jessica Vanizio, 19
Nursing, attended Henry Street for International Studies
Q: How was your transition from high school to college?
A: “When I came to college I already had a month in advance of summer classes here at Lehman, so I already knew my way around campus.”
Q: Do you think you were prepared for college ?
A: “Yes. I think I have great counselors so once I got in college I was prepared and I knew what to expect.”
Q: Do you have any classmates or friends that had trouble when they began?
A: “Yes I had a couple of friends that were struck by the difference between high school experience and college experience. They say it’s way harder in college than high school, especially the ones who are away in school, the ones upstate or out of state.”
Q: Who’s to blame?
A: “The teachers I guess cause they are the ones that are educating and the kid for not putting the time to work more or reaching out to teachers, making sure that they are learning what they need for college.”