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OpinionHigh School students must prepare for collegeBy Don Heinzman According to a study of the 1999-2000 class, one third of high school graduates in Minnesota had to take remedial math and English courses in the stateís colleges and universities. While the situation is improving, too many high school graduates are taking and paying for non-accredited remedial courses in the stateís two-year and four-year colleges and universities. This is a sad commentary on how unprepared some Minnesota high school graduates are for college, to say nothing of the value of their high school diplomas. Many high school juniors and seniors arenít taking the hard courses in math, science and writing, so they are unprepared for the college entrance courses. Minnesota by other outcomes has a school system that measures up very well compared to other states. The state is at or near the top in many criteria of a quality system. Minnesota ranks second in ACT college entrance tests and first in high school graduation. The data from the study shows that a little better than half of incoming college freshmen took one remedial class, and of those students, 56 percent took a math course, 26.2 percent writing, 14.3 percent reading, 1.8 percent English as a second language and 1 percent study skills. More students in two-year colleges where enrollment is open took the remedial courses. As is often the case with education, the problem as well as the solution is complex. Anyone involved in the process of educating a child needs to share the blame of poor performance in college entrance tests. For example, Minnesota is second in the nation in the ratio of students to counselors, the ones trained to counsel students into the right courses and right careers. School boards and administrations have elected to reduce the number of counselors to keep class sizes smaller. Parents share part of the blame because they allow their students easy class choices in high school, particularly in their senior year, because some believe students should have fun in their last year of high school. The students themselves would rather take the easy courses to get a higher grade point average and have some fun, figuring they can always bear down on their subjects in college.Teachers can share some of the responsibility, particularly those who allowed their English curriculum to grow soft by de-emphasizing writing. Four-year and two-year college officials can take part of the blame for not telling high school teachers the standards for measuring student performance in math and English. Why not share the college entrance tests with the high schools so teachers can prepare their students? The good news is that more students are taking the harder courses to avoid the embarrassment of having to take remedial classes. The bottom line is too many high schools are allowing students to graduate without knowing basic skills in math and English. This needs to be addressed and corrected. ©ECM Post Review |