At 02:45 PM 10/22/96 -0500, you wrote:
>On Tue, 22 Oct 1996, Sam Evers wrote:
>
>> I am all for NOT spoon feeding
>> students. Developmental studies has it's place, but at the university
>> level, students should be expected to perform at the university level.
>> I was told once (though I don't know it for certain) that Georgia Tech
>> offers Calculus 1 as their first available math class. If you can't
>> pass Calc 1, you can go home. I'm not saying all colleges should
>> abandon anything below Calculus (after all, GT is a fairly prestigious
>> school), but I think College Algebra is a good cutoff point.
>
>I disagree. I think developmental courses are extremely important. I have
>two reasons to think so, one mostly practical, one mostly political.
>
>The practical reason I believe in developmental courses comes from a
>recent large-scale study of student retention and graduation. I don't
>know the reference offhand, but it was featured on the back page of the
>Chronicle of Higher Ed several weeks ago. The study found, among other
>things, that students who needed remediation in only one course, such as
>mathematics or writing, had graduation rates indistinguishable from
>students who took no developmental courses. Problems occured for
>students needing remediation in reading or in multiple areas. This
>suggests to me that it would be foolish to lock out students who would
>otherwise suceed given the assistance of a single course. However, I do
>understand you comments about Georgia Tech being very prestigious and
>therefore starting with Calculus One, BUT I only agree with that policy
>IF the students who apply are aware of it AND the school makes awfully
>darn sure that no one they accept is underprepared for the requirements.
>In other words, if an institution accepts a student, they had better
>offer courses that meet the student's needs, even if those needs are
>developmental or remedial.
>
>The political reason I believe in developmental education is that without
>it, the barriers to higher education are made even more difficult to
>overcome for minority students, first-generation college educated
>students, low SES students, and any other at-risk, non-"mainstream" group
>you might care to mention. Not only do I believe this is bad for the
>country as a whole and the individuals concerned, but my personal value
>system finds sentiments to erect such barriers offensive, and sometimes
>even contemptible. I apologize if my strong reaction stings, but that is
>simply how I feel - no offense is intended, because I know reasonable and
>intelligent people (like us) can disagree with civility.
>
>> The problem you might find is that if the developmental classes are
>> dropped, then the developmental students will find themselves doing
>> poorly in Algebra. Then pressure will be brought on by administrators
>> to "dumb down" the course to get a better percentage of students
>> passing. If you do this, then you have just made your Algebra course
>> a developmental math course. This must not be allowed.
>
>Exactly. And the way to do that is to NOT ACCEPT such students, or if
>you must accept such students because of mandates from governing agencies
>or simple economics, then you MUST OFFER developmental courses
>appropriate to the students you accept. Then the situation above will
>not occur.
>
>> Just my opinion, I could be wrong.
>
>Right. Just my opinion, too. I could be wrong (I hope I'm not). The
>"truth" is probably somewhere between our perspectives.
>
>> Sam Evers
>> University of Alabama
>
>Gideon L. Weinstein
>Indiana University Bloomington
>gweinste@indiana.edu
>http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~gweinste
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sharon Smith
Augusta TechnicalInstitute
Math Instructor
Isa 43:1-3
email ssmith@augusta.tec.ga.us
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