Today's College Students Are Serious Minded When It Comes To Academics - Essay Example

Today's College are serious minded when it comes to academics With the evolution of mankind, education has become an important aspect that has been considered as a necessity in today’s living environment. Many dictionaries define academics as anything that can be linked to any educational institution, in most cases, it pertains to higher education. Hence it is strongly argued that academics does not relate to the education alone that the students receive within colleges, it can also be linked to other curricular activities that are being offered within an large educational institute such as a University.

The other activities include participation in sporting events, debating, dramatic societies and many other activities that can lead to an eventual learning of the students concerned. Academics have nowadays become very challenging and it is rather difficult to obtain admissions in well renowned Universities because of the extra competition amongst students to get hold of an admission in such Universities. Admissions in such universities require certain criteria to be met by the interested candidates, either that be in the field of education or that of sports.

The Ivy League is an example of such Universities. The Ivy League comprises top 8 universities of the U.S.A which are recognized because of their academic excellence, social elitism and the strictness in their policy towards admission. Such institutes and Universities mark a label upon the students who pass out and eventually it carries with itself a so-called guarantee to get a good white-collar job within the working society. The stiff competition within the academics field has been the major cause because of which today’s students have shifted focus towards excessive education.

Students are far more serious in academics as compared to the last decade. Reduced job opportunities within the global market have also led to an increase in high school students going for further academics in universities/colleges, this trend can easily be sighted within many Universities. The Hesston University within the U.S.A reported an increase of 249 students as compared to the prior year (Schlegel, 2011). Besides that, the Keens State College (U.K) also announced that it has seen the highest number of enrollments made in the year 2011 and that such enrollments are a record within the College’s history (Keene NH, 2011).

These findings clearly support the idea that more and more students are getting indulged into Universities in order to increase and enhance their respective academic career. If we compare today’s scenario with that of the last decade, there was a general perception 10 years back that once a student entered college they were little worried as to get a undergrad degree and beside that students normal approach back then was that they were less worried about the GPA’s and grades. But this phenomenon has changed drastically with the passage of time and grades/ GPA has had a great impact for every student with respect to scholarships and future employment prospects after graduation.

Grades and GPA’s have been highly associated with scholarships and jobs, if a student is unable to attain a prescribed level of GPA, he may not be entitled to scholarships offered within a university. These scholarships are considered really helpful because of the fact that education has become really expensive in recent years and there is a reduction in the number of people who can actually afford to get their children enrolled at the current surcharge offered by universities. Hence, students are encouraged right from the beginning to achieve enhanced and dramatic results so they can achieve those scholarships and be a part of a renowned university which will later ensure that the student gets a good job in the future.

This enhanced level of studies is not only restricted to the admissions and enrollment only, famed universities make this a recurring process i.e. a minimum grade or GPA system is enforced whereby a student may not fall from that grading level or hence he/she would lose the scholarship that he/she had obtained at the time of his initial enrollment within the University. This means that students have to maintain a good level while studying in those Universities in which they have obtained scholarships.

Besides the scholarships, high grades and good GPA’s also ensure that a student gets a good job within the society. Some universities have such a high standard that a continuous fall in a student’s grades would lead the Universities to force out those students prematurely without the degree offered (Yokano, 2011). All such matters and the damp global environment where unemployment is on the rise, have led students to focus more on their academics. According to many different commentators, these global crises may worsen; hence more effort would be required from students to survive in this global economy and because of these reasons, students have already shown that they are serious minded when it comes to academics.

Works Cited Keene, NH. “Keene State College Enrolls Record Number of Students”. Keene State College, 2011. Web. 04 Oct 2011. Schlegel, Rachel. “Official numbers show increased enrollment”. Hesston College, 2011. Web. 04 Oct 2011. Yokano. “Grades Matter”. The Daily Titan, 2011. Web. 04 Oct 2011.