This is nothing new. I remember the remedial math and English classes that were offered by my university and the local community college back in the early 80’s. The government schools were missing the mark then, and they’re missing it now. The only difference is that there is now a viable home education alternative to the government schools.
I too remember remedial courses offered in college in the '80's. And I wonder if remediation is really necessary for so many students. My own experience leads me to question the role of remedial courses. Here's why:
I waited a year after high school before enrolling in community college. I did so poorly on the math portion of the entrance exam that I was told I had to take remedial math. Thanks to some fast talking, the college let me skip remedial math and enroll into the required credit course (algebra), and I scored an "A" easily in that class.
Four years after community college, I enrolled into a university. Again, I flunked the math portion of the entrance exam and was ordered into remedial math. Thanks again to some fast talking, one counselor agreed to let me skip remediation and enroll in college math (the only required math course for my major). I was that professor's only "A" student that semester.
Those weren't difficult math classes, but according to the tests, I should've never been able to pass them, let alone ace them. That led me to wonder how many other students could skip remediation and do just as well. Now I wonder if these remedial classes are actually profitable to colleges. And I found some articles and comments that suggest remediation is profitable:
For example, this article may be pro-remediation, but here's an interesting comment buried in it:
Remedial education is only as costly as the resources devoted to it, contrarians say. Providing remediation on the cheap can be a money maker.
“There have always been people who have claimed that as community colleges are forced to do more and more remediation, they have fewer resources left to do things like training nurses and computer technicians,” says Boylan. “I tend not to agree with that because most community colleges do remediation by hiring huge numbers of adjunct faculty, paying minimum wages, then reinvesting that [profit] into programs like nursing and computer science.”
Then there's this research paper which says (p. 10) researchers found:
..."no reports of remedial programs that operated at a loss".... In fact, the authors hypothesize that, especially in community colleges, remedial course income may subsidize less profitable activities in the institution.
Just another side of the story to consider. Hmmm...