Quote:
Originally Posted by kerry
I'm in favor of open entry universities but as the US system stands right now, it has very substantial problems. Open entry colleges spend huge amounts of money teaching 6th grade level math, english and reading. Those classes are funded with public money. It is a huge waste of resources. The statistics on students who enter college at that level are very dismal. Only a very small percentage end up graduating from college or earning a college certificate of some kind. A very high percentage of those students were unmotivated in high school and remain unmotivated in college. Those kinds of students shouldn't suck the resources away from highly motivated students. There should be some means of dividing the motivated from the unmotivated. perhaps a rule that if in high school your ACT or SAT scores are not college level, you can't go to college until you're 26 yrs old or prove yourself by passing college level tests in reading, writing and math.
As an example, I teach at relatively small school. This spring we have 14 sections of 5th and 6th grade math, 18 sections of middle school math, and 33 sections of high school math. That's 65 classes with 25 students each non of which counts as college credit That's the equivalent of 31 full time teachers educating below the college level. That compares with 50 sections of Math being taught at the college level. So, more than half of our effort in Math is aimed at less than college level. English numbers are probably a little less.
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My FIL teaches math at both the high school and state university level. His experience has been the same.
OTOH, my 14yo son in middle school is currently taking a high level class with a teacher who appears to put little more than minimum effort into teaching the subject matter. My son is often confused after class. Extra help sessions have proven pointless where questions are often met with a "We went over that already in class, you should have paid more attention or taken better notes." Questions in class are met with a similar response.
We started going to my FIL's for dinner twice a week for dinner & math, within 5 minutes he's up to speed and then they'll spend the next 1/2 hr. going over the next chapter. He picks it up very quickly, when he's actually taught how to do it. My son has always loved math, now he dreads it. He has always done very well for teachers who had high expectations for him and were considered "tough" teachers, so that's not the issue. But it does go to show the negative ramifications a teacher can have on young minds.
Just as an aside, meetings with the administration have proven as effective as the teacher's extra help sessions. It always turns into a discussion of how disorganized my son is, the homework that was wrinkled up in the bottom of his backpack, he's too quiet and doesn't ask questions in class, etc. He was diagnosed with ADHD back in 2 or 3 grade, we're well aware of what his shortcomings are and what we need to do to help him succeed. We've also seen what he can do when he is actually taught.