Don't take mistaken step

The proposal to bar from admission to the CSU incoming freshmen who require remedial classes is one more step down a mistaken path. It puts higher education just out of reach of the very population we should be reaching out to. We, as educators, should not be discussing whether we can afford to continue remedial programs, we should be talking about how we can't afford to eliminate them and fighting for more support to improve them.

According to the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, Latinos, African-Americans and Asian Americans will make up at least 50 percent of California's populations by the year 2000. More than half of the Latino and African-American students eligible for admission would be effectively cut at least in half. We cannot afford such a mistaken policy.

We need to reach out and pull these students in instead of denying them a semester-long course after they have struggled through 12 years of under-funded schooling in the public schools.

Proponents of the proposal argue that if we don't take action, the high schools that have failed to prepare students will never improve. But where is the logic in the CSU system repeating the failure to our students? Why should a push to improve the public schools result in a policy that will eliminate over half of the Latino and black students -- and 37 percent of white students -- eligible for admission to the CSU system?

There is no reason to believe that we cannot address the shortcomings of the public school system while maintaining and supporting a remedial program in the CSU. If this is what it takes to educate the future leaders and workforce of California, then this is our work and we need to get busy.

This move to eliminate remedial classes falls on the heels of two similar initiative that would limit access to higher education to students of color: Proposition 187 and the so-called "California Civil Rights Initiative." All three initiatives have us heading in the wrong direction toward a future with the majority of our population lacking the education they need.

Why don't we come together around providing and improving education instead? We can start by revamping the remedial program, perhaps even renaming it to reflect an emphasis on basic skills that are fundamental to all CSU students.

There are admittedly many problems in our public schools and in the programs designed to remedy their "ills," but our response cannot be to banish the students who, against all odds, have met the eligibility requirements to the CSU, but still lack proficiency in English and math. These students have struggled for their education and they represent a great potential. The least we can do is offer them a couple semesters of math and English.

[ Golden Gater Online October 31, 1995 ]

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