Blogs:

 Today almost everyone in our country is complaining about our higher education system. It is not easy anymore to get into colleges, tuitions are too high. Even those who do get into college do not really learn anything of value.

Many today strongly believe that by eliminating aspects that are not really necessary, it is possible to reduce spending. All of them who advocate this idea target remedial education first. Almost forty percent of students who come into college have inadequate skills and require remedial education to catch up.

The blame game continuously goes on with college teachers blaming the high school teachers for not equipping students with basic skills. Statistics show that only twenty five percent of students from community colleges who take remedial education go on to complete their college education.

We all know that in order to improve our economy and create new jobs, it is imperative for us to increase rate of college attainment. Clear thinking therefore is essential as far as remedial education is concerned.  There are a lot of myths going around among educators and policymakers regarding remedial education.

Some say that it is K-12 that is responsible for remedial education. According to them these schools must enhance their standards to align with college standards as this is the only way to solve this problem. It is not easy to do this however. What we can do is to set a cut score that will determine students who have to go through remedial.

Another myth going around is that the issue of remedial education is not a long term problem. It is only a temporary issue that can be solved by the enhancing high school standards. This again is not the solution because students come to college from different circumstances. Some come because they have been laid off and require retraining. Working adults return to college to enhance their opportunities.

There is a strong feeling that our system is being bankrupted due to remedial education. Some even feel that remedial education is one of the major causes of cost crisis in colleges. They feel that when this issue is solved, institutions will start making a lot of money to be relocated in other areas.

Another myth going around is that maybe some students are not fit to join colleges. This essential means that if the student is not college-ready, he or she does not have enough wherewithals, interest and motivation to succeed.

This myth completely ignores the fact that you can reach the middle class only through post secondary education.

To work around this problem, it is essential to set basic skills instruction within academic programs such as career certificate program. In order to ensure that students are successful in the academic program they choose by providing instructions with real world applications.

The sad situation today is a result of lack of customized learning options, poor assessment practices and lack of well defined college-ready standard. All this show a severe lack of commitment by the institutions to ensure college credential for millions of students in our country.