Quote:
Originally Posted by metzfan
Baruch was and perhaps is still one of the best. I attended in the late 80s. The open admissions does hurt but Baruch in 1986 had a 38% freshman dropout rate and by graduation the total came to 50%. I loved it. One professor in freshman year had us face the person next to us and told us within 4yrs statistically one of us would be gone. Tough love but it corrected the open admissions idiocy. They've tried to be pc but the fact is you can't do high school work in college. Remedial work just doesn't belong in that environment. To sum up, several professors used the line "if you want to see curves go to Shea" and boy did they mean it. Eventually the accreditation agencies threatened to pull accred to to drop out rates. Problem is you can't fix stupid.  |
metzfan, open admissions isn't a bad thing.
There are students who simply have not had the privilege of a quality education in high school and/or an education which has prepared them for traditional-level college courses and open admissions affords those students "opportunity".
Once the opportunity is afforded what the students do with it is key. Hardworking, dedicated, determined students who start out in remedial courses tend to do well and in many cases excel.
There are also older students who have been out of the academic loop for a period of time and need "remedial" courses to help them to get back into the academic swing.
Should all of these students be denied the opportunity for college education?
In addition, it's not unusual that students who graduate with honors began in remedial courses, AND many go on to successful careers as well as masters and even Ph.D programs.
Don't kid yourself, lack of preparation and intelligence are not the same. For those students who resolve that what they lack in preparation, they will make up for in determination, lack of preparation is simply an obstacle to be overcome.
And for the record, there are many college students who do not enter college in remediation and who lack the skills and/or the commitment necessary for academic rigor and success in college.
Furthermore, as far as stupid - intelligence and formal education are not one and the same, highly edjamucated folks are not immune to, or excempt from stupidity.
My Daddy had a middle school education, but ran his own businesses and taught me and my siblings what we needed to know to survive and thrive, and he saw every one of his children through college AND his wife.
My Granny had a third grade education and was smart as a whip.
As an educator, I'm always pushing for formal education.
College is a hustle that secure a decent gig and it does enhance thinking and allow for learning of standard information, skills, language through which folks will often draw conclusions about intelligence.
but if you think that because students enter college with less skills or academic information than others that that makes them stupid, or that academic success is the be-all end-all, then you're missing the money.
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John Jay MPA vs. Baruch MPA
