More than half of Cal State freshmen need remedial education

Associated Press (via San Jose Mercury News) ^ | 28 January 2003 | Chelsea J. Carter

[CounterCounterCulture]

LONG BEACH, Calif. - More than half the first-time freshmen at California State University failed to meet math and English proficiency requirements, but most who took remedial courses became proficient by the end of the first year, according to a report released Tuesday.

[CounterCounterCulture]

No mention of affirmative action...

But HOORAY for our wonderful public schools. Let's give it up for them! (APPLAUSE)

"It's not good news," Spence said during the presentation. The problem, he said, is the students' lack "of ability to read critical and with comprehension. It constitutes 90 percent of the failure of students in this area."

Helps explain why these kinds of incoming students are susceptible to liberal propaganda.

...and the fact many of CSU's incoming students do not speak English at home.

¿Qué?

Spence credited a change in the CSU's math placement exam as one of the reasons for the increase in the number of math-proficient freshmen.

Hmmmmm.

[NMR Guy]

I finished grad school not long ago...

I taught freshman chemistry labs at San Francisco State during grad school for a number of years, and my impression was that things were getting _worse_, as far as the level of competency was concerned.

A large part of the problem was that many of the students had very poor attitudes. Quite a few could not deal with something as simple as 2n=4 (solve for n), and would tell me that I should not be making them use math. Several people told me that I was being unreasonable for not giving them, ahead of time, the exact questions (and answers for those questions!!!) that would be on their tests.

This is not to say that there weren't any good students, but a large portion were just too lazy to study and do their work. I routinely received lab reports and papers composed entirely of sentence fragments.

Spence credited a change in the CSU's math placement exam as one of the reasons for the increase in the number of math-proficient freshmen.

I have no doubt that the standards were lowered in order to achieve the desired result.

[elephantlips]

I find it interesting that these students who, by all reports, did not do well in their high schools in reading and math, took the remedial course at college and in one year they were up to par! Where did their new found inspiration come from? Suddenly, they can read well and understand the English language. We need to get this course their taking, into the high schools and eliminate the remedial aspect. Right.

[FITZ]

the fact many of CSU's incoming students do not speak English at home.

Also the fact that they never spoke English in grade school or high school. Interesting they can pick it up quite quickly once they are exposed to it in college.