> 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