Towards a Balanced Education System: Don't Oscillate Between Fear and Bravery - Essay Sample

With the rapid technological diversity and increasing knowledge demand, it is presumable that students should not be oscillating between fear and bravery in the outside world. It is the essence of any education system to impact the right skills, values attitudes to students. This has become the opposite of the expectations with the schools preaching wine and drinking water. But it also imperative that students should sink deep in learning and stop vacillating for this call for their downfall. Demand for the right skills in the job market is higher than the positions of jobs available. It has turned out to be an Enigmatic situation (Mourshed et al., pp 44-47). Who is not playing their role accordingly; the teacher or the student? This calls for students to gain the right education hammer and Tongs. It is necessary to access whether students who possess higher education have the right skills to perform tasks in a world of competition. With this standpoint, the research was conducted to access the academic and digital literacy performance of the students joining higher education (Siewierski & Cheryl, 2015) Whether the students can decipher meaning from a test basing their knowledge on what they already know. Can they think critically? Do they possess the right writing skills? Can they analyze, evaluate, form a judgment? How do they process information? Students who possess the right academic and digital literacy.

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There have been tremendous improvements in the notion of 'academic and digital literacy'-see, for instance, Vincent and Idahosa (2014), together with other opinions that have been evaluated in this research paper. This research paper explicitly discusses the terms of academic and digital literacy unequivocally. An attempt has been made to select sources that explicate the topic. The credibility and originality of the sources are given where located. Endowments have been included in this research paper from a wider discipline where the need arises. The author's opinions and facts have been used and accompanied by direct quotations to show the originality of the content.

Academic literacy is defined by various terms as used in academics/school setting. It goes beyond the classroom setting to refer to how a student can use his cognitive skills to relate to society and the environment. How a student can decipher meaning from a test, comprehend various vocabulary used in a test, and potentially impress through using them to make meaning. Academic literacy includes writing, reading, and analyzing skills. Digital literacy includes the capability to recognize and use technology i.e. understand and navigate through online information with ease i.e. finding, creating, and using information online.

Academic and digital literacy skills are structured to make the students fly. To prepare them for the next level of their life. But the results are half-baked products. The students need to oil the purpose of such knowledge. They have to put their best forward to achieve maximum benefits from the system. Letting the cat out of the bag, most of the students cannot do the basic academic activities reasonably. The students are unable to perform basic academic activities like reading and listening and gather academic information. They are unable to process information by analyzing it, comparing, and contrasting (Weideman, pp 2-9). Hence failing the task of discussing things with others. Its all sizzle and no steak. They find themselves unable to cope with the realities of the outside world. Tasks requiring them to think and link logic consistently prove to be a mountain to them making the knowledge they have acquired to be redundant. Students cannot reason out without the help of a source e.g. without using internet search engines, without looking for references, consulting a book, etc. hence making an implausible judgment on sure bets claims. Reluctance and ignorance on the part of the students is also a factor to consider when it comes to preparedness on academics. It’s the reason lecturers are marking vague and almost obsolete answers during examinations. Students rarely attend classes, submitting unfounded assignments that exasperate the lecturers.

The result is offhand products. A product that cannot benefit the society. One which is open to ridicule and cannot compete for available jobs due to poor performance. Half baked students cannot even depend on themselves. They are unable to perform to satisfaction even when offered jobs. They cannot use the cognitive skills available to them to form a deductive argument.

Of paramount importance is to get students out of their comfort zone and be guided on the importance of intensive reading. Encouraging them to think critically and independently (Horkoff & Tara, 2015). It should sink into the student’s brains that the journey to success is a no picnic and that excellence has no shortcuts. The instructors have a loyal duty to impart the desirable learning skills to the students. Providing them with authentic context. Engaging them I deep academic study. Teaching them values, attitudes, and skills for tertiary studies. Making them understand the importance of sourcing information and ethical considerations in sourcing information guiding them on assignments and examinations preparedness.

Work Cited

Mourshed, Mona, Diana Farrell, and Dominic Barton. Education to employment: Designing a system that works. Mckinsey center for the government (2013):44-47

https://celt.li.kmutt.ac.th/mock/km/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/education-to-employment_final.pdfSiewierski, Cheryl. An Introduction to Scholarship, Building Academic Skills for Tertiary Study. Oxford University Press, 2015.

https://celt.li.kmutt.ac.th/mock/km/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/education-to-employment_final.pdfVincent, Louise, and Grace Eseosa Idahosa. "'Joining the academic life': South African students who succeed at university despite not meeting standard entry requirements." South African Journal of Higher Education 28.4 (2014): 1433-1447.

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sabinet/high/2014/00000028/00000004/art00019Weideman, Albert. "Academic literacy: Why is it important." Introduction to Weideman & Van Dyk (Editors). Academic literacy: test your competence. Geronimo, Bloemfontein (2014): 2-9.

Horkoff, Tara. "Citations and Referencing." Writing for Success 1st Canadian Edition (2015). https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/writingsuccesscdn/chapter/chapter-9-citations-and-referencing/