Posted on 11/16/2004 6:15:23 AM PST by WestVirginiaRebel
COLUMBIA, SC-It's possible for freshmen at Benedict College to pass their classes, even if they fail every written exam.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
This has been going on in many publik skools for a long time.
Academic progress is required for federal financial aid. What the College is doing is stealing from the taxpayers and teaching poor students a lesson in accumulating debt that will take years and years to pay off.
All my life I have wanted to be a brain surgeon.
I was afraid that I could not successfully master the skills necessary to be one.
And now I discover that all I really needed to succeed was effort -- not talent or ability -- only effort.
Because Success Equals Effort.
SEE?
I think you nailed it. Colleges have a high freshman dropout rate. This is just a way to create "satisfied customers".
Many of the for-profit schools have had this policy in place for a long time. I know because I taught in several of them.
The results are just what you expect. The students don't complete the degree because they can't do the work and they can't get jobs for the same reason.
This explains a lot.
If you read the entire article, you find that percentage of 40-60 (effort-achievement) pertains ONLY to the Freshman year. After that, it is a 60-40 deal. This may have more to do with state schools not being allowed to deny a native student admission if they have any kind of high shool record above a D. That's true here in Illinois as well.
The intent is to avoid lawsuits as well as give a leg up to the kid who for some reason is able to turn over the page and start fresh. Believe it or not, some kids do surprisingly well once they get out of the home environment.
And, there are all kinds of reasons 10-12th graders do
poorly in school, inability to escape peer pressure being just one. And then there's the school Sports program!
This seems to be part of the "self-esteem" movement that says we have to make everybody feel like a winner.
Self-esteem comes from achievement, not someone telling you you're great for no reason.
If our young people can't handle failing a class because they couldn't or wouldn't do the work, then we are in deep, deep trouble. These hothouse roses won't make it in society. then waht? the few who actually tried to make something of themselves will have to support them?
Failure hurts. I have had a few, although I've been relatively lucky. But a failure shuts a door and opens another - pointing you in a direction that's better for you in the end.
But it's probably not even so "lofty" (although eclearly misguided) a motive which led to this. The school is just trying to make more money by keeping the kids there longer. they are doing these kids a terrible disservice.
As a side note, the Dept. of Labor (yeah I know a gubmint idiot house) says that 80% of jobs do not require a college degree; many just require specialized training. Also, this spring, in the local rag, was a story about college grads finding work. The article quoted Avis (you know, the rent a car folks) who were looking to hire 6000 counter workers with college degrees. Really ? You "need" a college education to staff a rental car counter to fill out forms ? How about we really give students a solid education K-12 so we don't need these dumbed-down, feel-good degrees. A college degree from most colleges now counts for not much more than a high school education of 20 years ago.
You forgot to mention in your headline that this is a BLACK College. Its important because it shows how the liberals are dumbing down their population. Instead of forcing them to achieve they are allowing them to fail. Black America needs to start taking a hard look at their progress, is it forward or backwards?
Well there's one school I'd never attend. I liked classes where as long as you ace the exams it didn't matter if you did homework.
I'm sure that the employers of these grads will offer them the same deal.
For the first year, if they can do only 60% of the job, it's just fine.
Right?
Of course you don't. What the college degree *mostly* tells the employer is that (in most cases, obviously present college under discussion excepted) the employee isn't a total slacker. It *used* to be that a high school education guaranteed that (since those who couldn't handle high school left after 8th grade), but no more.
Make compulsory education end at age 14; i.e. after 8th grade, and make parents pay *tuition* for high school. Then the value of a high school diploma would be re-established, and there wouldn't be such pressure on kids to go to college unnecessarily.
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