Remedial Courses

At the community college where I teach, some interesting statistics were released recently.

· Percent of new matriculated students in one or more remedial classes in 2008 = 51%
· Percent of new matriculated students in one or more remedial classes in 2009 = 55%
· Percent of new matriculated students in one or more remedial classes in 2010 = 58%

Oh my.  We haven't changed our English and math placement tests over the past few years - this looks like a real trend.

While we pretend these are students not performing at the college level, in reality, many of these students aren't even performing at the high school level - some of these students need remedial instruction in arithmetic, reading, and writing coherent sentences (why they were given a high school diploma is beyond me but I suspect that showing up and breathing are the main requirements these days).

We're not unique, all community colleges have to deal with this.  Aren't you glad your public school taxes go toward graduating students who then use up state and federal financial aid to take remedial courses in college?