As a heads up, I know my essay is pretty awful to begin with–I didn’t even have time to finish my last body paragraph or write a conclusion. I kind of regret not practicing the writing section more, but it is what it is. I have really struggled with brainstorming and timing, as I’m not really quick-thinker when it comes to writing. If you guys have any tips or strategies, please let me know! I’m desperate lol
Also, I found these writing prompts for the new writing section, hopefully they’ll help somebody: http://testprep.about.com/od/ACT_Writing/tp/Enhanced-ACT-Writing-Practice.htm
Summer School
Many high schools across the United States offer summer school programs to repeat and pass classes students have failed during the regular school year. Those summer classes may consist of just a few weeks of computer work, where they read tasks and respond to multiple choice questions. At the end of the course, they must pass a different final exam than the ones given during the regular school year. If they complete the work and pass the final, they pass the class and it goes on their record as having received the same credit as those students who passed the class during the school year. Many students see this as an opportunity to recoup from a bad year, but what might they be missing with a class comprised of just a few weeks?
Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about this type of make-up work.
Perspective One
Without being able to take a class via summer school, many students wouldn’t graduate on time or at all, setting them on a course they may not be able to recover from. This type of make-up work provides a second-chance for the kids who need it most.
Perspective Two
Allowing students to make up credits in this way sends students into the world completely unprepared, actually doing them a disservice. Knowledge building takes place over time; you can’t replicate that in a couple weeks.
Perspective Three
Instead of getting the option of summer school, students who have failed should be required to take the class again the following year, giving up a class that isn’t required in order to do so. If they take summer school, they should only earn half the credits.
For years, students across the United States have had the opportunity to attend summer school in order to make up classes that they have failed during the school year. While some may think this method of receiving credit will harm students in the long run, summer school programs are essential for kids who are in dire need of a second-chance.
Critics of summer school argue that students who fail a class should be required to retake the course the following school year. This is in agreement with Perspective 3, which states that those who merely attend summer school should only be given half the credits. While a summer school course is significantly shorter than a year-long class, it is unfair to say that summer school students should earn less credit. As summer school is teaching the same material in a more time-restricted setting, it is discrediting the efforts of these students to say that they do not deserve to pass the course using this program. From a psychological perspective, kids may be discouraged to learn that while they have been taught the same curriculum and have completed the same work as their peers, though modified, they still do not pass the class. Summer school needs to be implemented to give them a chance.
Other opponents of summer school say that a program that spans over the course of a few weeks is not a sufficient replacement for the gradual knowledge building of a year-long curriculum. As Perspective 2 states, kids may be leaving summer school still unprepared for the world. This belief is false; by enrolling students into a summer school program, you are sending them into a rigorous course where they will be required to learn at a rapid, yet efficient pace in order to earn credit. Students will obtain new skill from this experience, such as working under pressure, which they can apply to real-life work settings. In many occupations, you may be forced to learn a skill or build a presentation in a time-constricted manner. Also, intense workloads are also assigned in most colleges and universities. The time-management skills that summer school students can learn from these programs will only benefit them in the long run.
The core reason for attending summer school is to make up credit for a failed or incomplete course, so it is absolutely necessary to give students this option. As Perspective 1 states, some kids simply need this second-chance from which they can recover from. Realistically, kids need to graduate for future opportunities, Depriving them of the chance to do so is limiting their potential.