Two studies (haven't read them yet, so...) have concluded that too many students are being put into remedial classes unnecessarily.
The studies address one of the most intractable problems of higher education: the dead end of remedial education. At most community colleges, a majority of entering students who recently graduated from high school are placed in remedial classes, where they pay tuition but earn no college credit. Over all, less than a quarter of those who start in remedial classes go on to earn two-year degrees or transfer to four-year colleges.
Although the placement tests have been widely used since the late 1980s, students rarely understand how much is at stake. Typically, students are told that they need not worry about the tests because they are for placement — and very few colleges encourage them to prepare as they would for a college-entrance exam like the SAT.
This subject came up here once before. I'm torn. On the one hand, there seems to be increasing evidence that this trend is bordering on a scam (whether intended that way or not).
Yet I taught a community college, and most of my students could barely string two paragraphs together in an essay. Yet...the colleges don't seem to really teach writing these days anyway, so it's reasonable to assume that the definition of "ready for college-level writing" has changed.
Yes, it's obviously bad to put students into remedial courses unnecessarily. But the article says that putting unprepared students into harder classes is less of a problem. Given the level to which classes have been watered down (starting way before college), I have to disagree with this idea. If too many unprepared kids enroll in a given course, it ends up being focused on material that's easier than it should be. We've discussed the fact that new high-school math textbooks are made "accessible" by removing the hard stuff. This approach may "give everyone a chance" but it cheats the capable students and ultimately harms the nation.
