U.S. Colleges Are Separating Into Winners and Losers...

[grizpsych]

I would like to point out one major factor that is lost in this current debate. Namely, more students than ever are ill prepared for the rigors of University scholarship. Thus, Universities are continually have to teach/re-teach information that should have been learned in high school and even grade school.

I'm a 39 year old professor that still has to teach students mathematical order of operations in order to then teach them introductory statistics. PEMDAS is something they should have learned by fifth grade.

This re-education cost both students and universities much more that in previous generations.

Which anniversary of your 39th is it Mr. Benny?

Huh? I am 39 year old. I graduated from Sentinel High School in 1997.

 

[grizpsych]

I would like to point out one major factor that is lost in this current debate. Namely, more students than ever are ill prepared for the rigors of University scholarship. Thus, Universities are continually have to teach/re-teach information that should have been learned in high school and even grade school.

I'm a 39 year old professor that still has to teach students mathematical order of operations in order to then teach them introductory statistics. PEMDAS is something they should have learned by fifth grade.

This re-education cost both students and universities much more that in previous generations.

Please tell me you’re kidding. My kids have been doing this for a few years. Just wow!

I wish I could tell you I'm kidding.

Some of this has got to be on the Schools (and university) for failing these kids up, right? For example, how are they even in your class if they can't do the basic functions necessary for that class? Are most schools now worried about failing kids because it would lessen their graduation numbers (and most likely therefore potential funding) or am I just theorizing up the wrong tree(which wouldn't be the first time I've been completely off base)?

Honestly, in the area of the country I live, many students come from families that never needed higher education until now. Thus, it could be that parents didn't teach their children the importance of education while they were in primary school. Another factor may be 'no child left behind'.

 

[GrizLA]

I did not attend UM, but Metro State University in Denver. When they were looking to expand their Aerospace Engineering curriculum and build a new building they reached out directly to Lockheed Martin. LM came in and along with the school helped design the classrooms, labs, building, and curriculum for the program. Many of these students now have a direct path to jobs at LM or similar firms as a result. Maybe this sort of thing is happening everywhere but it just struck me as what every school should be doing. Build your programs around what employers want, and then create well defined pathways for students to interact with these companies.

South Carolina has created a system that serves businesses by 'first, by locating a manufacturer interested in opening plants whose workers will be trained PRIOR to their entering the job by a consortium of professional educators, the manufacturing personnel, and local officials. So far, in my midlands area, Mercedes Benz, Volvo. BMW, Husqvarna, Deere have all opened plants. Yet, even here, with terrible schools, some of the people the state is trying to reach out to are seemingly incapable of learning anything. Plants are always looking to hire but even with unemployment in some areas here hovering at 9%+ they cannot find properly trained or willing to train people. I look at it as a failure so gigantic in American life that words are hard to describe. Yes, the age of slavery here is something very much a part of day to day life but that is a two way street and failures are plenty. I look at schools k-12 that are truly bad and the state will spend no money on them because they don't want higher taxes. So, you can train plant workers and manufactures till your blue in the face, if the desire is not there, it is for nought. Trump Country at its worst. The major universities, on the other hand are around average while the many private colleges are stellar. But, they are more in the UM mode. Liberal Arts, Law, Teacher Education. UM offers a valid education but reading some of the posts, it seems some would prefer a trade school. Demands of manufactures and others change, but basic education does not.

South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.

Thus, the belief that they are a nation within a country. However, it is a very beautiful and special place, in spite of the political and economic developments of late.