DATE: Monday, November 17, 1997             TAG: 9711150005

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL W. THOMPSON 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

STATE HIGH SCHOOLS PRODUCE TOO MANY REMEDIAL STUDENTS

Why do 24 percent of Virginia public high school graduates need to take remedial English and math courses their first year in college?

That's the question every parent and taxpayer should be asking today. These are the same students for whom thousands of dollars of taxes are spent every year, for 12 years, to be educated. The latest report by the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) shows that 5,748 of the 23,893 college freshmen from Virginia public high schools needed to take remedial English and math courses when they arrived at a Virginia college. That's 24.06 percent of graduates who aren't really ready for college but who were awarded high school diplomas.

There is something deeply amiss when one in four graduating high school seniors needs to take remedial English and math when he gets to college.

When confronted with these alarming statistics, some school administrators claim that the SCHEV report fails to take into account the number of students who have English as a second language, work their first year in college, or have learning disabilities.

Did I miss something? Do English-as-a-second-language students not have to pass 12th-grade English in order to graduate from high school? Is math somehow different in Spanish or Chinese than in English?

And how does working while in college translate into having to take remedial English or math?

And do learning disabled students not have to have a basic minimum understanding of English and math in order to graduate from high school?

The question that must be asked and answered is: Don't seniors in high school have to pass 12th-grade English and basic math in order to graduate? What has happened in our public school system to create this remedial crisis in our freshmen college classes?

By the way, the graduates of private high schools do much better. But still, more than 11 percent - more than one in 10 - of these students also need remedial courses in college.

How can we expect our future generations to be prepared for the ``real world'' if they don't get a basic education while in our public school system? Without a solid background in English and basic math, how will these students compete in a world that is changing so quickly?

In the private sector if 24 percent of your products failed to meet standards, those who purchased them would demand a refund or a replacement. The company in question would face potential lawsuits. It would probably go out of business.

How do parents ask for a refund for Johnny's education? What replacement can be demanded? What recourse is available for parents and taxpayers who expect their schools to produce better than what is being produced today?

One interesting idea that surfaced in Florida is that parents should not be expected to pay the tuition for Johnny's remedial courses in college. Their taxes have already paid for 12 years of public education, and they should not have to pay for training their child in the basics of English and math once he or she is in college. It is suggested that the cost of these remedial courses (tuition plus the state's cost of subsidizing the course) should be charged back against the school system from which the child graduated. This would hold the school divisions accountable for the inadequate education they are providing one out of four of our children.

And another critical question must be asked: Why are our public colleges accepting students who can't perform basic English and math skills? Maybe these students should be rejected and told to reapply when they are ready for college. This isn't such a ``radical'' idea when you think about it. Such a policy would certainly make educators, parents and taxpayers more alert to the problems in their own public school system. And for those freshmen who have spent several years in the work force prior to attending college, they can take English and math at the community college should they need refresher courses.

Is it any wonder that we aren't training enough people for the exploding high-tech economy? For 25 years I owned and managed a company with as many as 45 employees. The poor quality of writing and lack of simple understanding of math by many whom applied for employment continually saddened me. When one in four high school graduates are not up to par in English and/or math, our entire economy suffers. And the young man or woman who graduates and seeks a job finds he or she has been shortchanged by an educational system that simply did not do what it was paid to do.

This new SCHEV report on the remedial requirements of entering college freshmen should be available to every parent and taxpayer in the state. I am sure the parents would like to know if the school system they are paying for, and the one their sons and daughters are counting on to give them the basic education required to properly function in our society, is doing a good job. MEMO: Michael W. Thompson is the chairman and president of the Thomas

Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan foundation focused

on state and local issues in Virginia. KEYWORDS: ANOTHER VIEW

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