Megan Balduf's Underachievement Among College Students

Reading Response 1 In 2001, the United States Congress enacted the “No Child Left Behind Act”, the purpose is for all students, no matter the age, to gain basic life skills and enter the workforce. Though not a requirement, students look for a higher level of education. Megan Balduf explains how college students are not prepared for higher education in “Underachievement Among College Student”. Although excellent students in high school, as soon as they enter a college 50 percent of students are not prepared for the advanced workload and constant studying that the institution entails. Unable to face the harsh criticism from peers and professors, the student does not know how to get help. With failing grades, eventually they will be put on academic probation (Balduf 1). Balduf structures her solutions in a poorly patterned essay with her excessive use of studies and little observation of her own. Throughout Balduf’s study, her constant use of indirect quotes and …show more content…
The citations were too long and offered no room for analysis. This was the basis that filled the beginning three fourths of the study. The ending of the paper offered originality and finally broke away from the citations. It offered original thought and analysis. All in all, Balduf offered very little of her own summarization of her outside sources. To improve her study, she could have offered more unique thoughts and bring in an abstract way of viewing the situation. She only looked at the academic and touched on the social aspect of school. She lacked family, work, and personal issues that can have a severe effect on college students. Providing evidence of these situations would have given her originality and shown prose. Balduf structures her solutions in a poorly patterned essay with her excessive use of studies and little observation of her