The Romance of Slaying the Dragon

A few more thoughts taken from “Remedial College Classes Are Costing Students Billions,” from TakePart.com April 9, 2016:

At private four-year colleges and universities, however, the number of remediation classes, and the related costs, are significantly higher—as much as $12,000 for three or more classes.

But the costs aren’t solely financial, according to the report: Full-time bachelor’s degree students sidetracked into remedial courses their freshman year are 74 percent more likely to drop out of college, and take nearly a year longer to graduate, adding to tuition debt and delaying their workforce earning power.

The article goes on to point out that these ill effects unsurprisingly are felt more by students from historically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Looking solely at the numbers provided above, though, I believe we miss the big picture. Many of these students should never have been funneled into college in the first place. They weren’t ready. Their inability to function without remedial coursework demonstrates this fact.

These students don’t drop out because of remedial coursework. They drop out because they are unable to manage  the demands of “real” college coursework. They take an extra year because they have to take smaller loads to stay afloat, on top of the time lost to remedial coursework. These students have no choice but to delay their workforce earning power.

The lucky ones can hang onto their swords, swinging away at the dragon, until they finally prevail. These are the students who will manage to graduate in their fifth, sixth, seventh year or beyond. These are the students who flail away at first but stay in the fight, despite regular reminders that they have fallen behind the pack within many of their university classrooms.

We love the stories of hobbits who climb Mt. Doom and “D” students who emerge with engineering degrees in their late twenties. We embrace these sagas of young men and women who beat the odds. Our high schools and colleges sell hope in part because hope is an easy sell.

But what about the stories that don’t capture our hearts and minds? What about the young man who owes $26,000 because he tried to complete a degree in criminal justice but failed to make the necessary grades? What about the would-have-been psychologist who is selling socks at Macys and trying to figure out how to pay both his students loans and rent? The girl who is adding up credit card debt as she tries to finish out her first school year — despite the fact that most of her coursework has been classified as remedial and will not count toward graduation — a fact made more ominous by the fact that her highest grade in those remedial classes is a single “B”? What about the effectively illiterate student who graduated high school and then entered community college because everyone had been telling him he should go to college — while no one had been honestly assessing his chances for success, despite ample documentation in a high school cumulative folder that showed — dammit — the poor kid can’t read?

Eduhonesty: We need to bring back the vocational education of bygone years. While still in high school, some of these indebted kids should have been learning the basics to be mechanics or skilled machinists. We are importing employees to fill many skilled machinery positions today while simultaneously sending unprepared and uninterested students off to colleges where they don’t want to be.

Inflexible, idealistic social policies can ruin lives. I consider the college-for-all vision of some leaders to be one of those policies.