Remedial Needs of Cal State Freshmen

Re “Most Cal State Freshmen Not Math-Ready,” March 18:

I have been a professor in the Cal State system for 30 years, and for most of that time we have lamented the substandard performance of our entering students. We have repeatedly called for the K-12 schools to establish more rigorous standards, to put forth unambiguously norms and expectations that students must perform adequately.

No one is doing the students a favor by allowing this to happen; they and their parents may not understand the consequences until it is too late, and then we, at the university level, are expected either to rescue them or to adulterate our standards. Why is it that so many of our foreign-born students and their parents understand that this is intolerable and that they must strive for nothing less than excellence? Why do not all of our students and their parents expect the same, demand the same and strive for the same goals? Only at the very top can the norms be set and the message sent clearly to students, parents, administrators and teachers.

I have never understood just what students expect to do with their lives with such inferior skills. Do they know better or do they simply think they will continue through life avoiding such performance needs--in this world of ever more pressure for technological and professional proficiency? It is as lamentable as my student this quarter who could not identify any of the states along the entire East Coast of this nation.

ELLIOTT R. BARKAN

Professor, Dept. of History

Cal State San Bernardino

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About 60% of the teachers in California are trained in the California State University system. Last year, about half of incoming Cal State freshmen (from the top third of high school graduates) failed both math and English proficiency tests. Why don’t we train our teachers at other universities where the pool of talent to draw from is significantly better? The present teacher training system appears to perpetuate the cycle of failure.

DONALD HIRT

Paso Robles