Making the jump from high school to college life is difficult. Anyone who has known someone or gone to college will tell you that. Being away from home and the life you had known, for the first time, can be more than nerve-racking. However, the social and location change is not what made my transition difficult. Instead, it was the lack of education and preparation I had received from my pre-collegiate education.

I came to Iowa State from a small town in Iowa, where I was placed in the Talented and Gifted program in first grade. I was challenged during my elementary days, but the difficulty level seemed to diminish greatly when I reached middle school, and by the time I reached high school, it completely vanished. 

My high school offered a whopping three Advanced Placement courses, which I took advantage of. However, I soon ran out of courses to take — I had officially run dry my school’s resources. I was forced to plead to my school and request special permission to be enrolled in more rigorous courses to push myself in preparation for college. 

By the time senior year rolled around, I was forced to drop back to the normal difficulty level in English because I had already taken all the higher-level courses my school offered. I found myself muddling through my classes bored and unchallenged only to discover that I was woefully unprepared for my college experiences. 

My study habits were non-existent, my efforts diminished when the challenges disappeared, and in essence, my education was moving rapidly backward from where it began. The saddest part of this truth is that I am not the only student — at Iowa State or any other college or university in this country — who has suffered from this lack of preparation.

YouthTruth, a national non-profit organization, conducted a survey to understand the options presented to current high school students and their view on the quality of their education.

Of the junior- and senior-level students surveyed, only 44.8 percent felt like they were being well prepared for college, a percentage that is far too low. 

Another, more in-depth survey was orchestrated through Achieve, a non-profit reform organization that advocates for an increase in schooling and standards for graduation. 

Seventy percent of the high school participants stated that expectations in their school were being met at a moderate to low level, and 91 percent of students “believe that providing opportunities to take more challenging courses would be an improvement.” This demonstrates just how many students are currently unchallenged in high school, just how I was. 

This same survey also asked current college students how they felt about their own high school education. Fifty-six percent of college students felt that high school left them unprepared for the study and work habits expected in college.

A Hart Research study found that a meager 12 percent of university professors believed high school students were being adequately prepared for college-level courses, and only 29 percent of employers felt that schools were teaching students the materials required in the work force. 

The study also found that 63 percent of four-year college professors deemed less than half of their new students to have the necessary critical-thinking and comprehension skills they need to successfully complete their courses.

These statistics speak volumes toward today’s education system in America and help  illustrate the changes that need to be made. Students feel unchallenged and unprepared after high school, leaving them desperately playing catch up in their first few semesters in college.