Ruba Shaikh
University of California, Davis
1 Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
High School Teachers
John O’ Connell High School
2355 Folsom Street Treat Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94110
15 March 2015
Dear High School Teachers,
My name is Ruba Mahomad Shaikh and I am currently a first year undergraduate
college student at University of California, Davis. During my first quarter, Fall 2014, I
realized college was nothing like high school. Due to the preparations in high school, I
was ready to face some of the changes, however to only a certain extent. Most of the
skills we learned in high school surely helped us in college, but there was a lack of
preparation when it came to vocabulary. This lack existed because vocabulary is usually
neglected in high school. This leads to us, students arriving with limited vocabulary to
college, which causes us to struggle with our classes.
Having a limited vocabulary in college, where it is competitive, students can
easily fall behind. Students fall behind because of not understanding the diction used in
readings, assigned for a certain class. Also, we might not be able to use words that are
important to a specific concept when writing a paper because we are unfamiliar with the
word and it’s meaning. This usually happens because in high school we are not given
vocabulary practice. For example, in an English class the focus is to read a novel and
analyze it. I acknowledge that understanding how to identify the author’s message in the
writing is an important concept, but we also need to know the vocabulary in order to
understand what the meaning of the writing is. I have observed this problem amongst my
peers and personally have struggled with this a lot myself.
During my fall winter quarter, in my Workload 57 class, I encountered this
struggle while taking my midterm. The midterm required us to read a passage and later
respond to the prompt. In the passage I encountered two words that were unfamiliar to me
due the lack of my knowledge. The prompt asked to explain the meaning of two specific
words and later compare them. I did not know how to approach the prompt because I did
not know what the words meant. I struggled to finish the midterm. I had to use the words
around it to understand the meaning. I did not get a good grade on the midterm, the
reason was clear it was because in high school I was not given a wide range of
vocabulary that I could have taken with me to college. Similar problems occurred in my
other classes too.
Another example of students struggling with vocabulary is when reading articles
for history classes. We are expected to critically read the article and analyze it, however, I
have observed that the articles are really hard to read due to their vocabulary, which we
were not taught in high school. In the history class that I am currently taking this quarter,
I have observed that my peers struggle to read the article because when we have in class
discussions my peers tend to have questions regarding the vocabulary in the article. The
professor sometimes is shocked to hear that a student does not know basic words. This is
due to us not being fully prepared from high school.
This is a serious problem because students are not sent with all the skills needed
to succeed in college, for example vocabulary. Teaching students limited vocabulary or
no vocabulary at all in high school is putting students at a risk of falling behind or
struggling in their classes. Not being able to understand words, which are important to a
concept from readings, makes it harder for students to succeed in that class which could
eventually lead them to giving up. Vocabulary is a major factor for a student to
understand concepts taught in class but if they lack that certain knowledge they will
struggle to succeed.
However, to every problem there is a solution. For this problem the solution is
that vocabulary should be added in to the lesson plan. For example, in a literature class
the vocabulary practice can be included after every novel is read by pulling some key
words. Key words from the novel can assist the students to understand the novel and can
expand their vocabulary. Also, another way is giving the students a “vocabulary of the
day.” This is simply when you give a term with its definition in the beginning or end of
the class. Such process allows students to expand their vocabulary and they will be able
to use these terms when they go on to college.
We rely on our high school to teach us all the skills related to education so that we
can be prepared for college. You are our main and sometimes only support for education
before our huge transition from high school to college. We depend on you to give us all
the information we need to have a smooth transition. I know in reality we cannot have a
perfectly smooth transition but we do expect to have a transition with less bumps with
your support. We know that you cannot prepare us to be a perfect college student, but we
do have the anticipation that you will prepare us enough to get through college. I believe
that giving a little more importance to vocabulary in high school will help college
students succeed after their transition from high school.
Concerned Student,
Ruba Shaikh