Remedial Classes for Cal State Students

Re “The Myths About Remedial Help,” Commentary, May 24:

Blenda J. Wilson, president of Cal State Northridge, tried to defend the system’s policy of providing remedial education in English and mathematics. This policy came under attack lately, when critics pointed out that it is not the task of a real university to teach students, who went through 12 years of formal education, how to read, write a composition or solve a simple math problem.

Wilson, by citing several “success stories,” claims that the CSU system should continue with remedial education. I am a professor in this system and I disagree with her opinion completely on several grounds. I don’t know how she would react to receiving class reports and term papers from juniors and seniors in which many sentences are missing nouns, verbs or both, without mentioning the spelling errors. My reaction is utter frustration.

There are some additional questions that have to be asked concerning this issue: How will a student who cannot write a simple report be able to hold any job that requires minimum literary skills? What did these students learn during their K-12 education? Why were they allowed to graduate? How will they be able to acquire the tools needed in the 21st century? How can they learn about philosophical ideas, abstract concepts or statistical manipulations when they are missing elementary skills? And finally, is the state directive that stipulates that the system should admit only the top one-third of high school graduates being violated?

Obviously, a budget system based on the number of students enrolled in educational institutions is a major factor in the fight for the provision of remedial classes at CSU in order to increase the number of students, and the quality of higher education is forced to take the back seat.

DAVID SHICHOR PhD

Professor, Dept. of Criminal Justice

Cal State San Bernardino

I was a recipient of a remedial English course while pursuing and obtaining a bachelor of arts degree, cum laude, in music composition from Cal State Dominguez Hills. I had returned to college in my mid-20s, and due to nonuse and laziness I had fallen into dreadfully bad habits with grammar and spelling. This, to my great surprise, placed me in a remedial English class for a quarter.

Those were grueling days, initiated by a no-nonsense instructor, whose love of English and care toward its use were deeply instilled in me. I, to this day, retain his lessons in my current writings, which include published music articles and orchestra program notes. The opportunity to return to college and obtain a degree is the foundation of a second start in my life down a new pathway, which I am most grateful to be on. But one of the most critical guideposts to this journey was the humility, and ultimate triumph, of a remedial English class. This second chance should never be denied to anyone.

MATTHEW HETZ

Los Angeles