Re: [MATHEDCC] The demise of developmental courses

Rick Butterworth (terwo@TIAC.NET)
Fri, 16 Jan 98 15:11:42 -0500

Although this sounds like a reasonable idea - I, too, would love to have
my students show up in class prepared - I must note something I have
observed over the years. Many of my students seem to transfer precious
little from one course to the next. For many I wonder if that is why they
are at a community college.

To give you an example of what I am talking about from an English
colleague's experience. Fred was in Eng Comp II and was doing terribly.
His professor had the impression that Fred had no idea how to write at
all. When his professor checked he discovered Fred had earned an A in
English Comp I from one of the harder professors on campus. This left the
professor baffled so he went to talk to Fred's previous professor. They
then talked to the student to find out what happened. Fred's repsonse
was, "Oh, that was English Comp I. I didn't now I had to do that stuff in
Comp II, also. I thought I could just forget about it."

How many of your own students have you had the following semester and
wondered what happened to all that great knowledge they had known a few
short weeks before?

My sense is solve this problem, and you have solved one of the abiding
mysteries of many community college students.

Rick Butterworth
Math Prof
Massasoit Community College
One Massasoit Boulevard
Brockton, MA 02042

508-588-9100 X 1637

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