In "Who's Ready for College?" John Cloud presents his opinions on remedial classes in post-secondary education. He states that out of the 600,000 students that enrolled in college last year, twenty-nine percent needed at least one remedial class in reading, writing, or arithmetic. Taxpayers feel that these skills should have been mastered by the twelfth grade, seeing as how they pay over one billion dollars for the classes each year. The writer points out that at least eight states legislators have pushed the remedial classes out of four-year state universities and into two-year community colleges. The columnist points out that only twenty-five percent of students graduate from two-year colleges, whereas forty-two percent graduated from Middle Tennessee State University last year. The author suggests that students should not pay for remedial classes, and he relates it to being punished for being poorly educated. Another side to the argument is that a high percentage of the remedial students are black or Hispanic, and the required levels of minority enrollment are not met when these classes are cut out.
Students at Washington High School at class, train...
High School Sweet 16 Toast
Kirksey Old Main building on the campus of Middle ...The journalist illustrates that some remedial students are not trying hard enough and/or lack the intelligence to handle college level courses. He states that the idea of remedial courses sends the students a message that getting into college is not a big deal. The writer suggests that ejecting post-secondary students from remedial courses, and thus negating their existence in colleges could end the fight for post-secondary education started in the 1960's with the introduction of the G.I. Bill. The author summarizes by recommending that Tennessee spend some of the money they are planning to save, by cutting out state funding for remedial courses, on reaching out to high schools to show and explain what is needed for college (60,63). Most people would agree...