Axing Remedial Classes ‘Blames Students for Not Being Adequately Taught’ : PLATFORM

About 60% of Cal State students currently enter the university system without the basic skills needed to do course work and must take remedial courses in math, English or both. Cal State trustees put off a vote last week on whether to do away with the remedial courses, which some people argue should be the responsibility of high schools or at least community colleges. The trustees asked for more comment and rescheduled a decision for January. JAMES BLAIR spoke with teachers, students and administrators about this hotly disputed issue.

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GEORGE WOODS

Teacher, Venice High School

I think it’s just a recognition on the part of [the Cal State system] that there is a problem; but there is no solution offered.

This is not a problem that is going to be solved with good will and good intentions and nice people. It’s going to be solved with additional funding. It’s going to require retraining of teachers. We now have a majority or near-majority student body in which the primary language is Spanish. The teaching staff, in Los Angeles at least, is aging and is primarily non-Spanish speaking. So the demographics are all wrong. We’ve got to retrain our teachers, reduce our class size, offer increased incentives to get bilingual people into the teaching profession.

The solutions to these problems are fairly evident, but they are not being addressed by the politicians because the money’s going into law enforcement and prison construction. Now we’re having the university saying, “Well, we’re not here to become an extension of high school. Send the kids back to community college.”

We’d like to say the same thing in high school--”We’re not going to take the kids in high school until the junior high teachers do their job.” And the junior high teachers can say the same thing. It becomes a massive buck-passing operation, statewide.

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JAMIE WEBB

Professor of earth sciences and director of faculty development, Cal State Dominguez Hills

If we look at the similar requirements for 30 or 50 years ago--even 20 to 25 years ago--we realize that we are, in fact, asking our students to be literate in many more skills than were asked at that time.

My mother-in-law has her degree in math--many years ago, obviously. The highest math she took in college was calculus. We would like our students to already have had calculus and beyond, possibly, in high school.

And computer skills--we now want our students to be literate in skills that require quite an investment of time in addition to the math and the communication [expertise] we are also asking.

We can’t just say it’s a problem with the secondary schools. We’re looking at large numbers of students who did not come out of those schools directly--at students who took a few years off, a few years too many off, and then came back, straight in [to CSU] or as transfers. Our average age on campus is around 28, and for graduate schools it’s quite a bit more than that--about 32.

We do need to say, “You must have the fundamentals.” The question is what are those fundamentals? And the question we as a society have to answer is, are we willing to foot the bill?

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JEANNE E. HON

Principal, Hollywood High School

I agree 150% with what the trustees are doing. Everybody is having a fit, but the [Cal State universities] cannot be all things to all people. My opinion isn’t popular but it’s sincere.

If students need remedial classes, there is no better place in the world to get them than at the community college. The teachers are dedicated to teaching young people and making up deficiencies--that is their focus rather than research or writing. And you’ve this wonderful two-year transition period.

I’ve lived my opinion. My husband and I and my daughter and son all attended California community colleges. The caliber of teaching, the caring, the smaller classes, the dedicated teachers were fabulous. My children are excellent students who both transferred to Cal State Northridge. Then they went on to graduate school. I got my bachelors and masters at Northridge.

With careful counseling, community college students don’t lose [any credits] so they can transfer straight across to a four-year university.

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DAVIAN FREEMAN

21, senior math major, Cal State Long Beach

I did very well on the SAT in math. But when I got to college and took the exams, my English level was low for the college level. So they put me in the pre-baccalaureate classes.

It wasn’t like an “I can’t spell” class. To me it was not remedial. It gave me a chance to see language as a tool and learn how to use it most effectively.

The teacher dealt with the slang that I use as an African American, and Latino slang. He explained why we use it and where it came from and how we can change our vocabulary, way of speaking and way of writing to standard English. He did focus much more on writing than speaking, but he allowed us to play with our speech so I felt it was very helpful. After the class, I was able to go into general education English and excel.

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LESLIE PURDY

President, Coastline Community College, Fountain Valley.

If the CSU were to undertake a change in their admissions policies as described, it could have a dramatic impact. At this point, I think almost every community college in the state is what we call “at cap[acity].” So unless there were additional funding there really would be almost no way for most community colleges to absorb any significant increase in enrollment.

I’m not rejecting [the CSU proposal] out of hand. However, the only way our college, or any other community college, could really absorb the number of students that would be displaced if this proposal were put into effect would be to get a significant increase in funding from the state. And, on a practical basis, I think CSU would want to think seriously about this because I’m not sure they would want to take such a reduction in enrollment--especially if many of these students can have their deficiencies made up with one or two additional courses. *

EMMA NAVA

23, senior, human development, Cal State Long Beach

The remedial course that I took was English 001 because I scored a few points lower than required on the placement test.

The instructor had us read current articles on either politics or education. We wrote several essays.

We need to have [these courses] here on campus; otherwise we’re blaming the students for not being adequately taught. As a student, I was really upset about [the proposed policy change]. At community colleges, most of the classes we need are already full. If 60% of students here are in remedial courses, are the community colleges prepared to [deal with those numbers]?