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RIDLEY COLLEGE
This college is not like any other private school that I have experienced. It is different from others in several ways. First, it has a unique historical and classical atmosphere. This classical environment provides a warm home feeling which attracted numerous students 33 countries over the world to gain valuable knowledge and education in this outstanding campus. Second, Ridley College provides students with the foundation of professional attitudes and methods to follow while they are interacting with people. In fact, the program enhances communication skills to prepare their students to be qualified adults who hold high positions in the future. Although the administration insists on rigid structure, most students enjoy learning in this college. Indeed, most students come from upper class wealthy families since the tuition fees are substantial.
Is there a correlation between the income level of families and the achievement level of students? I asked my self this question as I toured through the school. Sadovnik, Cookson, & Semel, 2006 pointed out that there are some researchers who attempted to demonstrate how the school climates affect academic achievement. This research showed that students achieve better in higher socioeconomic communities than lower socioeconomic communities. Hence, this conclusion leads us to connect that advanced facilities, which some private schools offer, are considered positive factors to success. In fact, only people who afford to pay this cost of tuition can admit their children to this college. I realized that the teachers in the college are very highly educated and they are attached and involved in each student’s life. In my opinion, when school cares about students academically and socially, this kind of care is the most element of attaining growth. Edmonds and other researchers Austin, Garber, and Brookover (as cited in Sadovnik et al., 2006) stated that, there is a connection between school’s positive academic results and socioeconomic status. As well, they pointed out that when staff in the school expected high achievements from students, this expectation encouraged them to do well. Moreover, the structured instruction in teaching and learning increased the opportunity to reach high grades. As shown, these positive factors are presented in the college. For example, the expectation of these students is high because naturally, we feel that wealthy families have abilities to create and produce more than the middle or low class families due to the numerous opportunities they faced in their lives. Moreover, Coleman and his colleague’s research (as cited in Sadovnik et al., 2006) argued that the level achievement in Catholic schools in United State are usually higher than public schools because of their rigorous academic curriculum. Therefore, the extensive and structured teaching is considered an effective method for some people to gain knowledge and education. I realized that Ridley College does not only focus on academic skills, but it emphasizes art, spot, and music interests. Sadovnik et al. (2006) illustrated that most research, which evaluate schools’ educational achievement, depend on only literature criterion or traditional measurements and they do not consider the nontraditional measurements. In fact, Ridley College emphasizes these progressive skills and they provide evaluation based on the level of students’ accomplishments. From my experience, I worked in a private school, which had a great percentage of students from the Royal family. These upper class families focus on both traditional and nontraditional skills and they support schools in teaching creative visual art and sports. I realized that these students similar to Ridley College’s students in facing useful facilities from the school and special encouragement from families to help them achieve the best level. As a result, most students from both groups achieved high grades, which guarantee attending the universities.
In conclusion, advanced educational facilities with rigid structures in traditional and non-traditional learning skills encourage students to reach great accomplishments in progressive learning. As well, the high expectation of specific students opens the opportunities to develop more and more. Yet, Sadovnik et al. (2006) ask this argument question “do students respond to the different curricula, pedagogic practices, and expectations that exist in different types of schools?” (p. 412). In my opinion, these factors have a positive influence on enhancing students’ abilities. Due to the high tuition, the school provides international curriculums, effective teaching strategies, and associated with private schools worldwide. Consequently, these factors impact greatly on students’ developments. Truly, the high expectation from staff of the students as well as the high expectations from families of the school’s ability in develops a high quality of growth in learning and teaching which makes Ridley College exceptional.
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