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[Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>]

Histrionics won't save you.  Remember, completing intermediate algebra 
is equivalent to passing the ELM (Entry-Level Math) exam.  Finish one 
and you don't have to do the other.  So of course, the class you take in 
order to become eligible for college admission cannot be used for 
college credit.

The reason why there are more intermediate algebra courses than any 
other math course is that this is the bottleneck where people who can't 
get into college because they can't pass the ELM accumulate.  There's 
big money in handing out grades to people who are desperate to be 
accepted into a 4-year college, and a human teacher can be so much more 
"malleable" than a cold, uncaring test. ; )

The vast majority of them are there to finish their first two years of 
college cheaply, not for vocational training (in fact, some vocations 
have declined greatly; some colleges have done away with welding, for 
instance).  The reason for the remedial courses is that they did 
absolutely nothing in high school, typically, and that's what you get 
when the admission requirement is "being 18".

To appreciate this statistical argument on the part of non-insider, one 
need only count the number of courses in history or statistics.  Which 
vocational majors involve those?  Statistics is significant because once 
you pass it, you've satisfied the GE math requirement for graduation, 
and that's why even little, rural C o' the R has so many sections of it 
(like every JC).

In the old days, if a person had been admitted to college without 
adequate high school preparation, it was a little like being pregnant 
out of wedlock.  It had to be hidden until you could find tutors on your 
own that could get you up to speed before one of your regular teachers 
found out how ignorant you were.  Now, by eliminating the admission 
requirement, they've made ignorance the norm, so even more employees 
with MA degrees are needed to remedy it.

This is happening mainly because state law allows it.  There is no 
stopping the race to the bottom.  Don't you love those 3-digit remedial 
courses?  The numbering system suggests that "there's no limit to how 
ignorant you might be, only to how far you can go!"  What if I told you 
that Coast College in Fountain Valley thinks it's worthwhile to spend 
$50 per enrollee just to offer them a course entitled "Possessives and 
Plurals"?  Yes, it's all about s, 's and s', along with a few irregular 
plurals (the same lesson that you probably spent an hour on in junior high).

The reason why you are doomed is that you're arguing a universally 
quantified proposition, like Voltaire's Dr. Pangloss from "Candide", to 
the effect that everything is already as good as it can possibly be in 
the JC system.  I find that amusing.  I'm not dogmatically opposed to 
providing a college to bright, hard-working kids, and yet I'm trying 
hard to find a reason why it wouldn't be better just to give them the 
money and tell them to go find a college.

Lynda wrote:

> B I L L,    I ' L L     T Y P E     R E A L    S L O W.     T H E Y    D O N 
> ' T   C O N T R I B U T E   T O    A   B A    D E G R E E     B E C A U S E 
> T H E Y     A R E N ' T   M E A N T     T O.    D U H!
>
> Lynda
>
>  
>
>