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March 30, 2005

High School & College Standards

Disconnected…

There seems to be a disconnection in our schools regarding what it takes to succeed and graduate from public high schools, and what colleges demand for incoming freshman.

According to recent published reports, including an article in the Star, of the 288 first-time freshmen who enrolled at the Camarillo campus (CSUCI) in the fall, only 52.4 percent were able to meet the math requirements. The number was marginally better when it came to English, with 54.5 percent of entering freshmen found to be accomplished enough in reading and writing for college level courses.

This disconnection must be solved. It's expensive. It cheapens the high school diploma, and it hurts the local economy.

Expensive: If the universities have to hire teachers and provide classrooms to bring incoming freshman up to speed on math and English, those are funds that can't be spent on college level studies, support services or other programs. Look at what's happening at the community college budgets for examples.

Cheapens the diploma: What is the high school diploma worth when 50% of students can't read or do math at graduation? For decades, the high school diploma meant automatic employment in the workforce, or advancement to college. Now, 50% of graduates may not know how to read a job application.

Hurts the economy: Local employers need skilled, smart, critical thinkers to employ. If they can't get them, they will find them in Ventura County, or elsewhere.

So, what's happening? Are high school standards too low? Are college standards to rigid and excessive? How did we get here, and how do we fix it? Is it a budget problem? Or, is there a disconnection between the high school graduation standards and college entry standards?

Shouldn't these two sets of standards match?

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