<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/15/us/AP-US-FEA-Parenting-College-Remediation.html?hp[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/08/15/us/AP-US-FEA-Parenting-College-Remediation.html?hp</a></p>
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<p>So now we’re using Remedial History and Remedial Composition as a weed-out courses? Weren’t Calculus and Organic Chemistry getting the job done??</p>
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<p>By “some postsecondary schooling”, what do they mean? I.e. do they define it more narrowly, as an associates’ or bachelor’s degree, or more broadly, including education needed to enter various skilled trades, or police or fire protection jobs, etc.?</p>
<p>The portion of people 25 and older in the US who have completed a bachelor’s degree is closer to one third.</p>
<p>I’m assuming they mean what they said - “some postsecondary schooling.” I would think under that description that vocational training at a CC or elsewhere would count. Perhaps even something like beautician school.</p>
<p>“Remedial Composition”</p>
<p>Whether a weedout course or not, it’s a critical need. I see stuff written by college-bound students from our local public HS all the time. Appalling. Of course, what do you expect, when the middle school language arts teacher sends home corrected papers with grammatical errors in the corrections or the cultural literature teacher, who is also the soccer coach, sends in game summaries in which not a single phrase starting with a capital letter and ending with a period qualifies as a recognizable English sentence? That’s why I pay to send both my HS-age kids elsewhere.</p>
<p>And the problem doesn’t stop there. A few years ago, we had an intern from the local CC’s journalism program. The poor girl’s attempts to write simple English prose were actually kind of funny, because she made up her own words. As in “The road comminisher said he would have tooken a load of gravel to the sight if weather had prohibited.” (No, I did NOT make that up! I’m nowhere near that creative!)</p>
<p>Badly written article, which is unusual for the NYTs. They start with stats that seem pretty obviously to rely upon a definition of ‘post secondary’ that is, as other have stated, about far more than a traditional college. Which is fine, but then the rest of the article seems focused entirely on four year college drop outs. </p>
<p>Then they seem to suggest that ‘the taking of remedial courses’ is somehow the direct cause of dropping out. Ridiculous. Sure they are correlated, but its the lack of preparation in highschool is the cause of needing remediation and not making it through college.</p>
<p>I rest my case that we have too many seats in colleges chasing too few decent students. And many are doing it on your dime–sooner or later.</p>
<p>post secondary schooling has been tossed around a bit in recent discussions.</p>
<p>My strong impression is that it includes BA degrees, AA degrees, and formal apprenticeship programs, such as in the building trades.</p>