Michigan News, Black-white graduation gap at WSU worst in U.S.

[LoyalTrust]

ACT and SAT scores judge your proficiency in filling out multiple choice exams in a timely manner. Unfortunately, most students who do excel in those exams and who do graduate claim to have forgotten the material by the time the semester is over. Is testing over shot-term memory proficiency really all that important?

In top universities most of the exams are multiple choice scantron exams. Rarely, if ever are you given essay exams. I personally like essay exams and presentation exams so that I can reiterate and explicate what I have learned in my own words. It allows me my freedom of expression. While a multiple choice scantron based exam is inflexible and it forces you to think within a tightly contained box. I believe that learning the subject is far more important and learning can be assessed better with written exams, practicum, and open-ended discourse. And I also believe that multiple choice scantron exams are terrible ways to judge mastery in liberal arts subjects e.g., History, Art History, Advertising, Marketing, Political Science, English, Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Legal Studies, etc. However, the hard sciences is another situation.

Originally Posted by socstudent

I think this argument is also one of degree, if you look at the article it says

"Of the 15,478 WSU students who were enrolled in fall 2007, an average of 9.5 percent of black students graduated after six years between 2006-2008, the report showed. That compares to 43.5 percent of white students who earned a diploma, trailing behind the national average of 56 percent."

I don't know about anyone else but I would still consider the white graduation rate of 44% terrible. I would never consider a school that only graduates 44% of it's student to be even halfway decent. Perhaps a big part of the problem isn't the racial divide but that the school itself is crap. It's low-quality education full of low-quality students who probably shouldn't have gone to college in the first place. I actually looked up the requirements to attend WSU and the grades/test scores of the students they typically accept. They'll pretty much take anyone with a pulse who graduated high school. The accepted ACT scores range from 16-23. Coupled with scarce resources in one of the worst cities in the country, this is an equation for low graduation rates for everyone.

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by LoyalTrust

ACT and SAT scores judge your proficiency in filling out multiple choice exams in a timely manner. Unfortunately, most students who do excel in those exams and who do graduate claim to have forgotten the material by the time the semester is over. Is testing over shot-term memory proficiency really all that important?

In top universities most of the exams are multiple choice scantron exams. Rarely, if ever are you given essay exams. I personally like essay exams and presentation exams so that I can reiterate and explicate what I have learned in my own words. It allows me my freedom of expression. While a multiple choice scantron based exam is inflexible and it forces you to think within a tightly contained box. I believe that learning the subject is far more important and learning can be assessed better with written exams, practicum, and open-ended discourse. And I also believe that multiple choice scantron exams are terrible ways to judge mastery in liberal arts subjects e.g., History, Art History, Advertising, Marketing, Political Science, English, Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology, Legal Studies, etc. However, the hard sciences is another situation.

I get where you're coming from but more often than not standardized tests are going to be correlated to propensity to do well. I'm secure with my intellectual capability even if I did get an average SAT score.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by LoyalTrust

The advisers aren't letting in blacks who have high enough SAT or GRE scores. The students are clearly not going to do well if the exams are taught to the test type exams. Teaching the subject and testing over the subject are perhaps easier. However, the goal is to learn the subject not to sift through a mess of convoluted choices in a multiple choice exam. They also might not have the aptitude for the program. It reflects on the incompetency of the advisers and recruiters for each program. They can recruit minorities. However, it is even more important that they learn and graduate. Unfortunately, that is not happening. For the most part college is about jumping through hoops. It is corporate training. And it is unfortunate that they are taking in their money while not caring about their education. Knowledge is power. And this type of recruiting into the wrong program and the wrong college is thinly veiled deceit and oppression against minorities and anyone else who is not suited for the program. I believe it is best to not waste the time of those students. Instead let them find their way with something that is more suitable for their aptitudes. They wouldn't be applying for college if they didn't have the ambition to learn. And that is one of the most important parts of attaining an education, ambition and even curiosity.

Another problem is sometimes blacks are treated differently (e.g., hostility) once they get into the program. And that does effect their grades especially if they are already struggling with keeping up with the coursework. Hostility and segregation which is common in college can cause minorities to drop out.

I'm not even remotely following what you are trying to communicate in your first 3 sentences.

I would guess that based upon the location of the college that it has a pretty heavy black population enrollment...yet they have one of the worst ethnic graduation rate imbalances.

I know what you mean about hostility and segregation at college, I went to the University of Illinois and am well aware of the few self-segregating racist fraternities and social groups.

[tribecavsbrowns]

That lead on the story is unconscionable. My God. They wonder why circulation is declining...

If the report actually did say anything close to "Wayne State University is failing its black students," perhaps that's an indication that the report is trash not worth a write-up in your paper.