Hillbilly Larning

Once again I'm amazed that some of my students feel prepared to take college algebra. I gave them a worksheet the first day and told them if they felt uncomfortable with it, they should move back to the previous class. I told them that almost all people who couldn't do that worksheet coming into class failed, while almost all those coming from the previous class passed without much trouble. Why set yourself up for failure? When someone can't do simple multiplication, they aren't going to succeed in college algebra. That's just reality. They don't listen of course.

The reason they refuse to listen is of course obvious. They came from a high school around here.

 

If your monitor is good enough, the above is a fascinating read. Okay, it's not high school level, it's 6th grade English, but the grade on this paper was 100%. That really tells you all you need to know about the school systems around here. All long as they can report good numbers and get federal monies, everyone is happy. The students know that you're not allowed to fail them and act accordingly. For some reason college comes as a real shock to them. All those F's that suddenly appear for formerly straight A students. Of course it never occurs to anyone to blame the high schools. They're under local control and giving out A's. A sure sign they know how to do their jobs.