Professor shares secrets for top grades

Washington Times ^ | February 21, 2003 | Lou Marano, UPI

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Students arrive at colleges and universities with hardly any idea of what's expected of them and are shocked to find that they lack the writing and study skills to get top grades, a Canadian professor said.

[The Other Harry]

I am finding that we are spending most of our time at the community college teaching students the things they should have learned while in high school...

My impression is that the work that used to be done in high schools has now been kicked up to the community college level. The latter have essentially been turned into the high schools of today.

I think that's a shame. It deprives community colleges of the opportunity to fulfill the roles for which they were originally intended, and it lets high schools get away with being little more than adolescent day-care centers.

Somehow, this needs to stop.

[Miss Marple]

Well, judging from of the students my daughter has met, a few hiints might help some of them at least PASS the classes they are in:

1. ATTEND CLASS!
2. Listen to the lecture and take notes.
3. READ THE MATERIAL!
4. Exchange notes with others, and review together before exams.
5. Anticipate possible essay exam questions.

Many of the sstudents my daughter meets don't even follow these basic steps. They are wasting their time (and their parents' money).

[The Other Harry]

He thought he was owed another chance (which would lead to pleas for yet another and another and we would pass this kid to the next instructor). Well I don't play that game of making someone's kid someone else's problem.

More power to you, btw. You are doing that kid a favor. You are perhaps the first *good* instructor he's ever had.

[FITZ]

In the "university" here 60% of the students are in remedial programs. It's much cheaper if they'd go to the local community college and I don't know why they don't do that. Too many univerisities are just handing out diplomas if a student stays in long enough.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

I think it is called "dumbing down." Many groups could not make it so they lowered standards. Kinda like the IQ test consistently come out low. Blame the test. Enjoy. It will be fun having a doctor with an IQ of 85.

[Irene Adler]

"I learned after that and kept roll, sort of a CYA strategy."

I am a university instructor, as well, and I do the same. I want to know who is attending and who is blowing the class off, and I intend to have proper records should they prove necessary.

[Irene Adler]

"Public school instruction started to decay about 40 years ago. For starters, Schools of Education need to go."

You have this right, both assertions.

[Vigilanteman]

Too many univerisities are just handing out diplomas if a student stays in long enough.

Don't you suppose a root cause of this are a leftwing dominated educrat establishment who won't hire anyone who actually knows the material as instructors (with possible exceptions for engineering and technical courses where you can't b***s*** your way through)? Isn't it past time the Republican dominated state legislatures who control the purse strings start demanding diversity in political leanings of state-funded faculties?

[tamu]

I teach senior level classes in college and I never thought about taking roll before (most people do this as a type of participation grade -- I didn't think about the CYA aspect), but I think the next term that I teach I will start. Thanks!

[ladylib]

Teachers in England now mark papers in green ink. Red is too upsetting.

[judicial meanz]

I agree with you about home school and school in combination. Thats my practice in my home.

My daughter goes to school and then studies at home with me as well. My son will also.

In our state you have to be a credentialed teacher to teach at home, and I have my degrees, but not in teaching. The compromise was to send the kids to school, but to take total control of the education at home and make sure the education is first rate.

She is only 7, and my son is 3, but I use the television as an instructional tool, along with books and the extensive library my wife and I have obtained over the years.

I go to extreme lengths to tell them that passing school is the lowest common denominator, and a lot more is expected of her. Self education is just as important as regular education, and it is stressed in my home.

I also have to spend a lot of time de-programming the social topics they teach in school. I had to take 30 minutes to tell her that Martin Luther King was an important figure in American history, but not the ONLY figure in our history that did something.

The tendency of the schools is to teach curriculum that fits the SOL ( standards of learning) and to disregard all other topics. A lot falls in the cracks.

[FITZ]

I agree with you about home school and school in combination. Thats my practice in my home.

Homeschool doesn't have to be an either/or decision, people should teach their children even if they send them out for school ---even family trips are a very good way to teach children things they can't get from school, they learn map-reading, geography and can learn a lot of science and history depending on places you take them. Going to public school can be a learning experience, you often have to deprogram but that can make for a child who learns to see through the bull and is less gullible.

[judicial meanz]

Absolutely. Especially in a state where its almost illegal to homeschool.

I can teach college or university but I cant homeschool my kids under current law in this state, so I had to compromise. Go figure!

[Desparado]

We homeschooled both of our children from 7th grade. Our Daughter is a junior now at the University of Tenn. studying Spanish and world business. She honed her study skills by associating with serious students in her classes.(there are always some students who are actually there to get a good education) They form study groups and study together at night. This has enabled her to get very good grades since she started in a local community college. I wouldn't say we were particularly hard on our kids at home as far as school; but we did make sure they both understood grammer and correct writing techniques by assigning many essays on topics ranging from history to politics of the day. (thus killing two birds with one stone) It is also imperative that they study Algebra 1&2 plus Geometry which really teaches them how to think more tha anything else. Of course some good Critical Thinking courses come in handy too.

[FITZ]

Remediation -- UTEP students are placed in remediation as a result of:

(1) failure to pass one or more sections of the Texas Academic Skills Program (TASP), the state-mandated test in mathematics, reading, and writing, or (2) failure to pass one or more UTEP course placement tests. Although TASP results have not been used as an admissions instrument, failure to pass one or all portions of the TASP results in students' being placed in legally required remediation in failed areas. Many UTEP entering students fail to attain acceptable scores on the TASP test, particularly in mathematics.

Entering students must also take University placement examinations in reading, writing, and mathematics and are placed in remediation if their scores are low. Test results lead to fully 60 percent of entering UTEP freshmen taking remedial courses in mathematics, courses that do not count in their degree plans. While fewer students need remediation in reading and writing, a 1997 UTEP study documented the difficulty UTEP students have if they take non-remedial content courses while they still need remediation in reading.

In the 1994-96 UTEP SACS Self Study, it was recognized that there were major problems with the University's approach to remediation, including the large number of students involved, their poor success rates, especially in mathematics, and a lack of cohesion in the administration of remedial programs. In 1996, the accreditation visiting team from the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) agreed with this finding and recommended that "The University must examine its developmental and remedial programs to ensure a coherent, efficient approach."

In response to the SACS recommendation, UTEP's Provost formed a Remediation Task Force in 1996, chaired by the Dean of the College of Engineering. After evaluation of the report and findings, the Provost, in cooperation with the Vice President for Student Affairs, recommended that UTEP establish a single operating unit that would oversee all remedial programs. Since a significant fraction of UTEP's entering students are in some remedial status, the Provost also recommended that the new unit offer programs for all entering students. This recommendation has been accepted, and its fundamental concepts will guide the reorganization of services for entering students in fall 1998. There is now clear direction to take a more holistic view of these programs and to create what will appear to students as a single coherent program.

http://www.utep.edu/cierp/plan/sect5d.htm

This is an example of a "university" with no admissions standards, it demands state (taxpayer) money for these programs but meanwhile there is a perfectly good community college in the same town where these remedial students could go. Of course that means less taxpayer money for the "university". Now that Texas is facing a budget deficity and looking at some cutbacks, the "university" is screaming bloody murder. They want their money.

[keats5]

I managed to get a Bachelor's and Mater's degree in nuring, and graduated in the top 10% of my Law class. My recommendations would be:

1) Take a few hours to read Stunk & White's, "The Elements of Style", as well as the style manuel you professor recommends;

2) Focus primarily on passing the graded tests, rather than the mountains of ungraded homework your professor never reads;

3) Attempt to reproduce your professor's lecture outline, using your lecture notes. Use the textbooks when needed, but mostly to more fully understand the lecture content; and

4) Avoid study groups, unless you're one of the dumber students. Otherwise, you end up wasting your precious time tutoring those who won't study.

[Richard Kimball]

Bump

[anobjectivist]

Okay, somebody that has the power really needs to see this and realize its the truth in the U.S. as well. The only reason I am able to write at all is because I took Advanced Placement english classes (both of them) and passed before I got to college. Teachers that don't teach AP don't have to focus on anything at all other than the "FCAT writing" aka florida writes part deux. These essays have NOTHING TO DO with reality, as I thought I knew what a real essay was before I took APs, but in reality I was clueless.


The kids in highschool now not taking advanced courses are simply screwed. They do not know a thing. As a bonus to myself, I decided I would take a history course up here to refresh my knowledge, and a lot of the college kids don't even know how to write an essay using quotes and citations. It's really sad the state that public education puts the kids in.

[alley cat]

1. ATTEND CLASS! 2. Listen to the lecture and take notes. 3. READ THE MATERIAL! 4. Exchange notes with others, and review together before exams. 5. Anticipate possible essay exam questions.

I am LOL at this because at first I couldn't believe that I actually have to tell my students to do these things... this semester I spent an entire lecture on these and other basic study skills... and this is for an upper-level course. The students do seem to be doing better, but time will tell.

[Centurion2000]

Near the end of the course he wanted to know what he could do to get 'extra credit to bring his grade up'. EXTRA CREDIT?!?! During the semester he turned in 1 page papers with text paraphrased off the internet (which I failed him on), all of his work was late by at least a day, and he showed up to class late almost daily.

He thought he was owed another chance (which would lead to pleas for yet another and another and we would pass this kid to the next instructor).

You're doing the right thing there ... that kid is in for a WORLD of hurt when he hits the professional world.