As the world grows more competitive, the importance for students to complete their postsecondary education has increased exponentially. Canada alone had experienced an 11% population increase from 2006 to 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2017a, pg. 2); and having a bachelor’s or master’s degrees are becoming an education requirement for many high paying jobs. With the completion of postsecondary education(PSE), young Canadians can support themselves and contribute to Canadian society to their fullest potential. Yet while 1,011,882 (Statistics Canada, 2017b) young Canadians choose to attend postsecondary education, 15.1% of students in their first-year (ages 17-20) leave and do not return (Statistics Canada, 2013). While the percentages may seem low, …show more content…
It is critically important to help these students succeed in high school; as data have shown that students with lower grades in high school had a significantly higher percentage dropout in university. For example, 30% of university students who received 60% to 69% in high school dropped out (Shaienks, Gluszynski and Bayard. 2008, pg.20). This shows that students who are not prepared enough, for university have a higher chance of not continuing PSE. In a British Columbian high school, teachers walk students through every concept slowly through each step their learning. In contrast, university learning is mostly independent, and it is the responsibility of the student to go to the teacher for further clarification. As a result, students who rely heavily on teachers, struggle to teach themselves and study complex material at the fast pace of university. This is supported by reports which found dropouts had struggled find correct studying methods in first year (Shaienks and Gluszynski, 2007, pg. 1) and spent less than three hours on homework (Shaienks et al. 2008, pg.25). To help these students succeed in high school, teachers must give the students more independence and responsibility in their own learning outside of the class. Instead of spoon feeding students information, students in higher level grades (such as grades 11 and 12), should be taught through more self-guided learning to build good foundations for how classes are taught in university, as well as reviewing strategies for studying. By giving students readings before class, they will already have an idea of what will be taught and discover what they need more clarification on. This will benefit the student by giving them exposure to a new type of learning, giving them more responsibility, as well as chance to discover how each individual learns