"It has been the dirty little secret of higher education for decades: Ten of thousands of college students can't do the work. ... But relatively few students who need the classes go on to earn a degree, raising questions about whether money spend on developmental education is a wise investment. 'It's all about efficiency,' said Jim Pickard, a program director at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. 'What are we sending these kids to college for?' ... 'It's a matter of finances, and it's a matter of work force development,' said Donetta Goodall, vice chancellor of academic affairs and student success at Lone Star College, which serves suburban Houston and where about two-thirds of students require at least one remedial course. ... Well over half of community college students are unprepared for college classes--the number approaches 70 percent at Houston Community College--with low-income students more likely to need help than their wealthier peers. ... There are lots of reasons students aren't ready for college. ... And despite efforts to impose a more rigorous high school curriculum--including new standards requiring all students to take four years of math and science--not everyone who graduates from a Texas high school is ready for college. ... So there are, enrolled in college in the midst of a push from legislators, business leaders and others to produce more college graduates. ... In Texas, the pressure is heightened by a projected $18 billion budget deficit and a growing population of low-income Latinos, historically the group least likely to earn a college degree. ... Developmental education is one of the biggest stumbing blocks. Fewer than 10 percent of students who require more than a few remedial classes even make it to college-level classes, [Diane] Troyer said", my emphasis, Jeannie Kever at the Houston Chronicle, 23 May 2010, link:
"We've lowered the education requirements so all can pass. By doing so, we have taken education out of the education system. ... We continue to dumb down the education system, and are producing better idiots", James West letter to the Houston Chronicle, 30 May 2010, link:
Who is suprised by this? Why do we need more college graduates? Could IQ be a reason? What's the problem? Felipe Calderon (FC) said, "I have said that Mexico does not stop at its border, that wherever there is a Mexican there is Mexico", NYT, 3 September 2007. What percentage of Mexicans are college graduates? Why should a higher percentage be realized in the US? Calderon's statement is noteworthy. I believe FC made a DECLARATION OF WAR! Some other Americans see it that way too. Currently 12% of 18 year-old Mexicans are enrolled in higher education. What percentage of Mexicans who coincidentally are north of the border does say FC think should be enrolled in college in the US?
Yes West.
5 comments:
It's the quiet, unrecognized Mexican invasion.
Yes they clearly are not a well educated crowd. IQ levels are low.
Time to request their return to their sovereign nation. Past time.
I get college graduates come through my business all the time who cannot do basic fractions, cannot read a measuring tape, or calculate numbers at an 8th grade level.
But anyone who was genuinely interested could have figured this out decades ago. Hell, the late Allan Bloom hammered this nail in the early eighties (and said a great deal more worth saying in several brilliant books, but many kvetched while very few took the time to read him carefully). Finally, the depth and breadth of the education scam is beginning to take on an outline to the poor citizen.
Ubu:
No argument here. You commented on my 18 May 2010 post about the young ladies and "whales". Those kids were functionally illiterate. So? That's the real world. I'm sure none of those three could multiply say 2/3 X 5/6.
IA
Sigh, I've spent a lot of time working in Mexico, I know what a large, barely literate population looks like, and it doesn't look like anything Americans are accustomed to seeing. Boy, are we in for a change.
Ubu:
Anyone who has lived in Los Angeles and spent even a few days in East LA, about four miles east of downtown knows. Or should know.
IA
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