Aw, the kid did well in high school math but needed remedial college math! Does anybody see anything wrong with this picture?
I can certainly relate to that article. I'm an adjunct professor. Many of the students that come to our school need remedial math. English and writing skills is another area that also falls below expectations. I teach many business subjects and I also include writing exercises in my classes in an effort to encourage my students to work on their writing skills. I'm also a business professional and it amazes me how individuals in high level positions made it all the way through a masters program and have such horrible writing skills. I shouldn't be surprised. I had a fellow student in my final class in grad school who had never heard of APA format for writing papers. I often wondered if we actually attended the same school leading up to graduation! ProfTim
Perhaps this development has something to do with the use of chat-rooms (where people feel free to use illiterate chat-room lingo) as communications vehicles for online MBA degrees.
Still the relevant question becomes: how the heck does an individual do well in high school math but still need remedial college math? Shouldn't high school be a high enough level of schooling to prepare one for college? In this case, either (a) the level of the expectations for the high school math was too low or else (b) the level of the expectations for the college math was too high and, while I'm not sure why my gut is telling me this, I'd say the answer is likely (a). But how did this happen? When did education begin to deteriorate so badly? Where? Why? Who is responsible for this invidious dumbing down of America?
A couple of things jumped out at me from the article, these statements in particular: "Eighteen and temperamental, Mickey, as everyone calls him, hounded the dean, insisting that she take another look at his placement exam. The dean stood firm. Mr. Walton’s anger grew." "Because he had no trouble balancing his checkbook, he took himself for a math wiz. But he could barely remember the Pythagorean theorem and had trouble applying sine, cosine and tangent to figure out angles on the geometry questions." The young man in question eventually pulled it out and finished, but needing remedial courses wasn't his only obstacle; getting past the sense of entitlement and the expectation that "demanding" an expected result was appropriate seemed to go a long way towards success. Dave
ProfTim, You said it! I, too, have had the same experience as an adjunct professor. My patient husband has to hear my rants about poor grammar and non-existent critical thinking skills. I spend a lot of time encouraging students to "think" and "write." Take care, Cindy
