Commentary; Posted: 11/16/05
For college bound students, tougher classes needed
A report on the high percentage of high school graduates taking remedial courses in colleges and universities highlights the importance of taking more and tougher mathematics courses in high school.
The report by the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities shows that of the 28,322 students who enrolled in state colleges and universities in 2002, a total of 10,131 had to take remedial or developmental courses in math, reading and writing before they could begin college studies.
Twenty-eight percent of entering freshmen had to take a remedial course in mathematics. (At one community college, a student pays $143.60 per credit for a remedial course.)
Whatís more alarming, some of the higher percentages of these students come from suburban high schools where itís believed better education takes place in the state.
The University of Minnesota and the seven state universities require students to have three years of mathematics to enter. At the University of Minnesota, thereís talk of requiring four years of math for entering students. Craig Swan, vice provost for undergraduate affairs, told a Minnesota Daily newspaper reporter, ìIf you were going to choose one single subject in high school that would be most important in predicting subsequent college success through graduation, regardless of field, it would be mathematics.î
Many reasons are given for students having to take remedial classes in college. More students are going to college. Colleges and universities are doing a better job of testing and enforcing students to take remedial classes.
Colleges and universities also are raising the bar for entrance, resulting in more students needing remediation.
While some students who plan to attend college, take pre-college courses, many do not plan in advance and donít take tougher courses required. Some students take easier courses to keep their grade point average up; some take a math course in ninth grade and are unprepared for a harder test four years later.
School district officials are examining math requirements for graduation. While the state requires one math credit to graduate, individual districts may require students to take more. For example, in the Elk River district, graduates from the class of 2006 and 2007 will be required to take two years of math and the class of 2008 will be required to have three years.
No one is blaming the high schools for students who must take remedial courses before they can begin their college studies. They offer the tougher and advance courses needed for college. For all kinds of reasons, many students do not take those courses until their senior year when it is too late. Students and their parents need to plan much earlier to enroll in courses needed to enter college.
School boards and school superintendents may want to make students more aware of the tougher college entrance requirements and strengthen their own requirements for graduation, particularly in mathematics.
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