Essay 1 – Final Draft
9/12/2014
Did your secondary (high) school experience prepare you adequately for college?
In my home country, the school system is different from the one in the United States. Most schools are public, education is paid for by the state, and schools do not have such a huge number of students. The high school I attended had less than four hundred students, and it provided, in my opinion, a very high level of education, even higher than what I have seen in the US so far. Despite the fact that teachers‘ salaries were quite low, they did an amazing job and taught the students very well. I think that my high school prepared me thoroughly for a Czech college, but a few years ago, nobody anticipated that I will be given a scholarship and attend a US college. That is something that any high school in my country cannot prepare me for.
Writing is the biggest difference between American and Czech schooling system, whereas in my high school in Czech Republic we did not have any regular writing classes. We just had Czech language course, where we learned either grammar or literature, and once in a while, the teacher said that it would be good if we were to write an essay. The only teachers action was to give us topics of an essay and a grade. They have never taught us how to write, maybe because, students can use their own language in a proper way is in Czech considered as a matter of course. The writing seems to me an integral part of operation in American college, which could be a struggle for me because I did not get a lot of practice in my school.
Another big difference is that schools in Czech Republic do not support student-athletes a lot. It is almost impossible to be a good athlete and student at the same time. I am a golf player, and I missed plenty of classes during a school year. It had been a great obstruction to overcome to an understanding with my teachers and to catch up missed classes. That is why I did not create very good study habits. Sometimes, I learned for my tests the day before and didn’t turn my assignments in. Also, the fact that I was the only athlete in my class was pretty demotivating, especially when I saw all of my classmates to be fully prepared for every class. I felt like I was far behind them all the time. Tutors were not provided at my school, so I had to try on my own. Moreover, some teachers were about to cause harm to athletes instead of supporting and helping us to catch up missed classes.
In conclusion, it will be difficult for me to get used to the different system of teaching, same as studying and understanding in a foreign language and being the best athlete at the same time. I hope that the high level of education which i got in my high school will help me to get quickly adjusted to the US college.
Essay 1 – First Draft
9/3/2014
Did your secondary (high) school experience prepare you adequately for college?
In the country I live, the school system is pretty different from the one in the United States. Most schools are public, education is paid by the state and they also do not have such a huge number of students. The high school I attended has less than four hundred students an it provides, in my opinion, a very high level of education, even higher than what I have seen in the US so far. Despite the fact that teachers‘ salaries are quite low, they do an amazing job and teach the students very well. I think that my high school prepared me thoroughly for a czech college, but few years ago, anyone did not anticipate, that I will be given a scholarship and attend a US college. That is something, for what any high school in my country cannot prepare me.
Writing, in my opinion, is the biggest difference between american and czech schooling system, whereas in my high school we did not have any regular writing classes. We just had classes of Czech language, where we learned either grammar or literature and once in a while, the teacher said that it would be good if we were to write some essay. The only teachers action was to give us topics of essay and grade. They have never taught us how to write, maybe because, that students can use their own language in a proper way is in Czech considered as a matter of course. The writing seems to me as an integral part of operation in american college, which could be a struggle for me, because I did not get a lot of practice in my school.
Another big difference is, that schools in Czech Republic do not support student- athletes a lot. It is almost impossible to be a good athlete and student at the same time. I am a golf player and I missed plenty of classes during a school year and it had been a great obstruction to come to an understanding with my teachers and
catch up missed classes. That is why I did not build very good study habits. For instance, I learned everything at the last minute, late or no homeworks and essays were not minor. Also the fact that I am the only athlete in my class was pretty demotivating, especially when I saw all of my classmates to be fully prepared for every class. I felt like I am far behind them all the time. Tutors were not provided at my school, so I had to try on my own. Moreover, some teachers were about to cause harm to athletes instead of supporting and helping us to catch missed courses.
In conclusion, it will be difficult for me to get used to the different system of teaching, same as studying and understanding in a foreign language and being the best athlete at the same time. I hope that the high level of education which i got in my high school will help me to get quickly adjusted to the US college.