A Student Tutorial on Remediation

More than two-thirds of students entering Cal State Northridge needed remedial instruction in math or English to prepare for college-level work, according to Cal State University system officials.

Findings released last month for the entire 22-campus system showed a record 54% of entering freshmen needed remedial math and 47% needed remedial English. At CSUN, 62% of entering freshmen needed remedial English and 67% needed remedial math.

KARIMA A. HAYNES asked CSUN students whether they were adequately prepared in high school for college and whether the remedial instruction figures might affect their job search after graduation.

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JACQUELINE ANDERSON

21, senior, health environmental science

I was in the magnet program at Cleveland High School in Reseda. I took physics and advanced-placement English and history. I thought I was prepared for college-level work, but the placement tests told me something different. I was only off by a couple of points, but I had to take remedial English. . . . The class helped me, and I made the dean’s list that year.

Employers don’t look at your remedial classes, they look at what you’ve done for four years.

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THOR HOILAND

18, freshman, kinesiology

I did not take remedial classes. I think that if you took high school seriously, you would be prepared for work at a four-year institution.

I think a college degree means a lot. I don’t think employers should look down on someone who took remedial classes or someone who went to a college where a lot of people had to take them.

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DAVID HILL

26, senior, economics and political science

I had to take a remedial math class because I came here from the Marine Corps and I hadn’t used the math I learned in high school for a long time. [Remedial classes] are a good thing for students who have been out of school for a while.

I think it hurts the majority of students who don’t have to take these classes because [having them] makes it easier for [unprepared] students to get in. Students are coming in who can’t do basic math or write an English paper. It is the fault of the public school system, and we are picking up the slack. Taxpayers are paying for high-school level classes once and now they are paying for them again.

We need to start looking at why high schools are not preparing students adequately. By doing that, we can eventually drop this [remediation] program. We should not lower our standards just to help someone. High standards are what make a university degree worth its weight in gold.

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JULIE WHITE

21, junior, business administration

I didn’t have to take remedial classes because I had high ACT scores and I took advanced-placement classes . . . in high school. I felt prepared for college.

There is a definite difference between Harvard and Cal State Northridge, but the business classes here are not a piece of cake--they are hard. I don’t think that employers are going to look at whether the school you graduated from had a lot of students taking remedial courses; they are going to look at your individual performance.

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LYNNE KESWANI

23, graduate student, environmental health sciences

I think schools with a high number of students in remedial education decrease a degree’s worth. They let anyone into this school, and the standards are fairly low. When you let people in who need remedial classes, you lower the standards, you don’t have keen competition and you cater to students with lower skills and capabilities.

I felt prepared coming out of high school and going into the University of California at Santa Barbara. If you are not good enough to make it in, it is not the school’s responsibility but the student’s.

Job recruiters will look at my individual performance, but most likely they will weigh the school you attend. If I [am] competing against someone from a school with higher standards, they will take the student from the [other] school.