DON’T RAISE THE EDUCATION, LOWER THE STANDARDS

In 1968, Jerry Lewis starred in a comedy titled, “Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River”.

The movie was a farce, which had nothing to do with bridges or water.  It also was a flop, with box office recepts only about $1,000,000.

This leads us straight to the once-envied California education system.

Here, via exerpts from Larry Gordon’s article in the Los Angeles Daily News, is the latest strategy of some of California’s colleges, to create academic “success” (the bold print is mine):

Before Aida Tseggai could major in biology at Cal State Dominguez Hills, she had to catch up in math.

She passed a non-credit remedial math class in the fall and then was offered a new pathway – a for-credit course in college-level algebra that provided extra class time, tutoring and review of more fundamental material.

Such combination classes – known as co-requisites, bridges or hybrids – are seen as a crucial tool to help hundreds of thousands of CSU students climb out of the remedial education hole in which some feel trapped. Part of a national reform movement, such courses also are aimed at helping students graduate faster.

“It saved me time and money,” said Tseggai.

Nervous at first about the spring co-requisite class, she wound up passing with a C grade. The combination of catch-up work and college level material, she said, was “very helpful. Like killing two birds with one stone.” Without that opportunity, her initial placement test results would have required her to take yet another non-credit remedial course.

CSU system administrators earlier this year said they want to turn all non-credit remedial classes into college-level credit bearing ones by 2018, with the co-requisite classes as the likely model. That move is an important part of the CSU campaign to bolster the system wide four-year completion rate for first-time freshmen to 40 percent from the current 19 percent by 2025. More than a third of entering CSU freshmen are found to need some remedial work.

Remedial students need the extra time, help and structure of a co-requisite class since many “lack the foundation” in algebra even if they received decent grades in it in high school, according to Lochard. Many students either forgot basics or did not pay attention in high school and feel the ideas “are brand new to them.” And if they do recall some concepts, “they mix them up in strange ways,” said Lochard, who is the campus coordinator for developmental, or remedial, math.

What a great idea to boost graduation rates.  “Don’t Raise the Education, Lower the Standards”

Give remedial courses to make up for the inadequate education received in high school…and then give college credits for doing what, when I was a student, would have been summer school catch-up, designed to get students somewhere near adequate on a high school level.

Use the link, read the article, then read it again.  See how much you find about raising graduation rates by raising student’s academic standards – i.e. only moving them forward if they’ve accomplished sufficient learning.

Lots of luck with that.

This is California’s great idea for booming up its graduation rates.  Maybe next time they’ll just give out diplomas after a couple of years, regardless of whether students have learned anything at all.  You know, like those “participation” trophies they give instead of trophies to the teams that actually win.

Then their “graduation” rate will be 100%, and California will be the envy of the country and the world.  Right?