Study: Many Teens Overconfident, Have 'Wildly' Unrealistic Expectations

Pre-College Topics High School Life
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<p>“Teens today are overconfident and harbor more unrealistic expectations than teens in the 1970s, a study published in the November issue of Psychological Science finds.” The self-esteem movement and grade inflation bite back?</p>

<p>[FOXNews.com</a> - Study: Many Teens Overconfident, Have ‘Wildly’ Unrealistic Expectations - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News](<a href=“http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451222,00.html]FOXNews.com”>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451222,00.html)</p>

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<p>I am not sure if my expectations are actually overconfident, I mean I don’t think that I will get into Harvard, Yale or anything like that but I do not think I won’t get into ANY university. I am an international student, and here at my city there is a very good college which is fairly easy to get into, but I would like to go to one of the US colleges, although I’m not sure if I can. My school here in Bogota offers the US high school diploma as well as the Colombian Bachillerato one, and I am receiving both of them. My grades are just good enough though and I am not involved in many extracurricualr activities.`</p>

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<p>I must have gone to an easy high school in the 70’s then, as this article says students have less homework now than then. My son often spends 4 or 5 or more hours per day on homework. I spent very little time comparatively and was an A student.</p>

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<p>4 or 5 hours more?! WOW how much homework does your son do! Somedays I don’t even have homework.</p>

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<p>This journalist must not live around these parts…it’s incredibly difficult to be an “A” student in our HS; in fact, I would estimate that only a handful of kids in D1’s graduating class last year never earned a B…D2 is in a private school where there are no multiple choice tests; every class including science involves extensive writing and open-ended questions…Few straight A students there too…
Interestingly, though, D1 who is attending Newhouse School @ Syracuse tells us that all of her peers think they are geniuses; “straight A kids”, who are pompous and extremely conceited…and, yes, they think they deserve it all…
In terms of HW, I would have to agree with casey…In the 70’s, I NEVER had as much homework as either of my kids…4-5 hrs a night is the norm…</p>

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<p>can you really trust a story from foxnews.com?</p>

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<p>I agree (with casey and rodney, not the article). 4-5 hours of homework per night, plus plenty of work on weekends, is the norm around here - and these are kids who know how to use their time well.</p>

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<p>lazydog…haha…that’s for another thread…</p>

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<p>i don’t agree with the article, especially the homework part. teenagers today have a lot more pressure on them than those in the 70s. a lot more competition among peers b/c everyone wants to be better i guess. </p>

<p>who wrote that article?</p>

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<p>casey 75, you must be smart! I did very little as a 70s high school student and only got Bs. ; ) Seriously, I suspect that, on average, kids work much harder and are much better prepared for college. Thus, they are not over confident … just confident. It would be interesting to get the pov of a college professor who has been teaching through a few generations.</p>

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<p>Raindrip - I probably thought I was smart back then, but the older I get the dumber I feel :)</p>

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<p>Yeah, this is ridiculous. Maybe the Regular or Honours program today is “easier” than it was in the past, but all those taking AP, IB, or a combination of the two classes know that it’s definitely more difficult today just because of the increased amount of higher level classes available to high schoolers. My school has a full IB programme complimented with the availability of about 15 AP classes (most take around 7 or 8). This is still insane, and I haven’t spoken with anybody in their 40s or 50s (parents, their friends, neighbours, et al) who went through the same thing.</p>

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<p>the average high school is not replete with advanced courses, and most kids don’t do the huge amounts of work the AP/IB students do. looking at one family is not going to reveal a trend. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there is significantly less the homework assigned today in basic classes like “normal” algebra, biology, US history, or English.</p>

<p>in addition, the areas where the students expressed confidence are not really the same ones this thread is considering. if you read the actual article (which is linked in the article provided in the OP) they think they will be good parents, good spouses, and good employees. this can certainly go too far, but if their expectations turn out to be true, all of society would benefit. I think it’s better than thinking you’d be terrible in any of these roles.
there was no change in the amount of students believing they were competent.</p>

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<p>go to india and china… the hmwk we do now is consider childs play if u contrast eastern hemisphere societies… look at germany, and certain small european countries… my dad said western society in terms of academic standards is not up to par with eastern society… and its true lol…</p>

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<p>I guess my perspective might be different from some of the other people in this thread since they seem to be focusing on competative schools with tons of IB and AP courses available.
I go to an average school with only three AP courses, no honors classes, and a lot of grade inflation. My classes are the hardest available and I’m taking two college classes and I never feel overwhelmed. A few classes are hard, but it’s definately not hard to pull off at least a 3.5 at my high school. Kids at my school have crappy SAT scores (top students score a ~1900) but their expectations are too high… they still think they’re going to ivy league and other top universities. They’re cocky and many won’t be able to handle college level work… even I feel underprepared. </p>

<p>I definately understand what everyone else is saying though. My cousin goes to a school with a rigorous curriculum and I can’t imagine that it was harder in the 70’s.</p>

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<p>I’m not buying this notion of AP courses making everything harder now than in the 70’s. As a high school student, who has been through 6 AP courses so far, only one of them (US History) was anything resembling rigorous. The rest of them were essentially jokes (and mind you, my school is among the best public schools in the area). </p>

<p>For some subjects, such as Statistics and Calculus, the AP curriculum is horrendously lacking in rigour; I have heard that spending a week reading the CliffsNotes for AP Biology is good enough to get you a 5. </p>

<p>I must concede that there’s no reason the teachers have to teach down to the level of the AP test… but that’s what will go on almost inevitably. It is only because my US History teacher is amazing and goes above and beyond what is required that I find APUSH to be a difficult class, on par with college-level coursework. </p>

<p>Dunno anything about IB, maybe that’s more rigorous. </p>

<p>On another note, it’s depressing how much grade inflation we see at my school. First off, it uses a 10-point grading scale (90%=A, 80%=B, etc). As if that weren’t enough leeway, many teachers round (89.5%=A). I haven’t been in a single class that didn’t award extra credit; in every math class I’ve taken, extra credit was available in copious quantities for all sorts of nonsense (though I should note that the only extra credit available in US History is based upon reading a high-level scholarly work of history, so that’s better). </p>

<p>Then our GPAs are based not on our percentage in the class, but on the grade letter: a 90% (or 89.5%, as the case may be) and a 100% are both worth 4.0. In my AP Physics C class, 50% of our grade comes from homework, which is graded based on completion. And I once again reiterate that this is one of the best schools in the area, academically speaking. </p>

<p>And the worst part is that I probably have wildly unrealistic expectations as a result. I’ve frequently scraped my way to getting an A by the slimmest of margins, and this lulls me into the false sense of security, that because I’m an “A” student, I’m in at all these great colleges… </p>

<p>To conclude this diatribe, yeah. I’d be wary of anything coming out of Fox News. A shady bunch, that lot.</p>

<p>EDIT: Yeah, that post about India/China/etc being far more rigorous? Definitely true. If you go to a decent urban/suburban school in India (from where I hail, though I never attended school there), you’ll receive a remarkably more rigorous curriculum than in the USA.</p>

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<p>How can you guys say kids aren’t overconfident?</p>

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<p>If 75% of the kids think they perform in the top 20%, 55% OF THEM ARE OVERESTIMATING THEIR ABILITIES. If that’s not overconfidence, I have no idea what is.</p>

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<p>areyouseriousss: Was this a sample of students all around the country OR was it high achievers? If three quarters of the people in the sample truly are in the Top 20% in terms of SATs and grades- then it’s a reasonable assumption. However, if this was a sample of students all around the country- it is a poor assumption on their part and we can possibly say that overconfidence is a problem.</p>

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<p>Every generation thinks the one after it is subpar. I think this study is in part just pandering to that notion. I also resent the assumption that learning can be measured to any degree of accuracy by how much homework is completed every night. Hours of rote may measure effort and patience, but not talent and understanding.</p>

<p>The rising demand for college educated workers is the cause for grade inflation. Before, a high school education could earn a living wage and some could get by relying on family connections. Today, it is becoming harder and harder for people with no college education to make a decent living, and teachers hold the key to college.</p>

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<p>Anarch: please tell me where you go to school. JK but I want to remember it for when my own kids are looking to settle down…here, no extra credit for anything and HW doesn’t count; if you don’t do it, your problem…grades determined exclusively by tests, quizzes and papers.</p>