Thread: Half Of TX College Students Take Remedial Classes

I blame this on Bush's No Child Left Behind plan, which began in Texas and English as a Second Language (ESL). Import more visa holders and forget about our children.

Dixie
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Nov 7, 2007 6:10 pm US/Central

Half Of TX College Students Take Remedial Classes
Steve Pickett
Reporting

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS The education your child is receiving in Texas may not be good enough. According to a state report, outlining education deficiencies when students enter college, thousands of Texas students aren't making the grade.

You can graduate from high school; pass all the required TAKS Tests, meet state standards, and still find yourself struggling in college.

Walking into the room you see students enrolled in their first year of college, after graduating high school. But the writing class, at Dallas' Richland College, is not what William Hernandez expected - it's a repeat of what he should've learned in high school. "You know, it's kind of hard when you have to take that test and then you see that you don't pass, and you have to take these kind of classes," he said.

One out of two Texas students entering college today must take similar remedial classes. They're called 'Developmental Courses'; essentially, a repeat of high school reading, writing or arithmetic.

The Commission for a College Ready Texas reports a wide divide between students who pass required tests to complete high school, but can't handle college level work.

Writing instructor Doug Wilson says he sees the divide daily. "More and more students are coming to us academically unprepared to complete a rigorous college curriculum."

In the Tarrant County college system thousands of students fail the college entrance assessment exams. Fifty percent of students fail the math portion, 32-percent fail in reading, and 27-percent fail the writing section.

In Dallas County, 70-percent of enrollees coming from high school must take a remedial class. Jade Holmes was surprised to find herself in that group. "The school standards are probably different from like what we learn in high school," she said.

"Everything we see here at the community college level tells us that something in the system is broken," Wilson said.

The commission says the standard for passing graduation exams is too low and that stronger, more rigorous work is need at the high school level.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_311191124.html

The commission says the standard for passing graduation exams is too low and that stronger, more rigorous work is need at the high school level.

I certainly think most of us can agree with that! There is no doubt in my mind that many schools throughout our nation are being dummied down because of illegal immigration and lax immigration policies.

I certainly think most of us can agree with that! There is no doubt in my mind that many schools throughout our nation are being dummied down because of illegal immigration and lax immigration policies.

I agree, but why should other students be made to suffer for the ones who can't handle it.

I remember being a parent volunteer when my kids were in grammar school. Numerous times the teacher would say "sit quietly and be patient while we wait for the others to catch up." Well, the others were trying to catch up because they couldn't understand what was going on. I would go home boiling mad quite a few times over this issue.

I wonder how us poor poor immigrants that came decades ago managed to not dumb down the schools?

We had TOTAL IMMERSION! That is the ONLY proven way you will learn a language. But no, we have to teach hispanic students in their native language! Why? Are they that stupid? They must be, because it's NOT working!

Even WITH spanish teachers working with them, they STILL don't get it?

While I would like to be able to say this is caused by illegal immigration - and it certainly hasn't helped - but it has been going on far longer than the immigration problem.

In 1957, I sat in a high school civics class. Our superintendent taught that class and he was very big on political involvement. He taught us exactly how a bill went through committee, got to the floor, vote, etc. He even took us to the Texas legislature to see it in action.

We all paid attention to current events because if someone could bring up a good topic, we would discuss for the entire time and not actually have a 'textbook' class. We thought we were getting away with something, actually, we were learning some great things.

We discussed intergration at length in that class as we were still segregated, but the bill had been passed. He told us at the time that segregation, itself, would have little effect on our education. He said it was way past time and should have happened a long time ago.

He said the danger to education through integration would be the fact the federal government would effectively take control of our education system and then it would begin to deteriorate. He was right.

Yes, the children of illegals have helped in this downward spiral, but it began before they showed up on our doorstep and they are, once again, just a pawn our government is using to make our children less prepared for the challenges of the world.