For many, college is the first time they receive freedom, but that comes with costs. Students must balance their academics without the support they had in their hometown, from school or family. This transition is huge, and regardless of whether a student goes to college or not, everyone must be prepared academically.
The goal of many high school teachers is to help students build study habits, organization skills, and high-quality writing. However, putting all these skills together can be difficult. According to the Pew Research Center, short analytical essays and journaling are the most common assignments while around 64 percent of teachers assign research papers “less often.”
Students in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program study through a global lens. All Berkeley International High School (BIHS) students going for the IB diploma have to write an Extended Essay (EE). Students can choose a topic ranging from historical events, to pop culture and literature. Regardless of the student's topic, the EE should be 4000 words.
Maya Merhige, a senior in BIHS, chose to write her EE about what role the US military and government played in drug use by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. “I worked to find something that I actually, genuinely wanted to learn more about,” Merhige explained.
Students should have a chance to dive into a topic of their choice during high school. According to Gerald E. Knesek, a professor at the University of Michigan, many students are fixated on extrinsic motivators such as grades. “What’s apparent in all this focus on grades is that there’s no real emphasis on learning — the true purpose of education,” Knesek explained. This love of learning tends to get lost, especially during the college applications process, but could be brought back by allowing students to dive into topics that genuinely fascinate them.
Amila Morehouse, a BHS senior in Academic Choice (AC), testified to the value of writing lengthy papers. Morehouse recalls writing only one long research paper in her AP Biology class. “I think that it's really good to practice analyzing information, and the habit of researching. It's very useful,” Morehouse said, reflecting on her experience. Morehouse hasn’t written long research papers in any of her English classes. “I don't wish (we wrote one) but I think it would be helpful. It's a lot of work but I think it's beneficial,” she said.
The Pew Research Center interviewed AP and NWA teachers asking about the benefits of writing longer papers. It found that “for formal texts, academia certainly requires a greater level of formality but so does a lot of work in the political, legal, and commercial world.” This highlights how the skills used in writing research papers can manifest in multiple real-world jobs.
Teachers shouldn’t assign the classic “midterm paper” that heavily impacts students' grade. Instead, they should opt for open-ended assignments that mimic the EE. These assignments would focus on the process behind drafting a thesis and then writing a research paper, allowing students to explore their own unique interests.
All students should have the opportunity to write a research paper in high school. They prepare students for college-level writing, and teach them to approach open-ended prompts, making the academic transition to college the slightest bit easier.