I was to learn later that departments at some public
universities and CC's--were weighing
whether to split one of those non-credit pre-req classes into two required courses. Small sections
would cut failure rates, they were arguing. But splitting a course would double
its FTE profits, of course.
If the flunk rates were factored in, the unhappy truth was
that the Clints were nothing more than cash cows for the Math Departments of
the nation's public universities and CC's. No wonder they had worked so hard to
require all students to take College Algebra. And no wonder their faculties
seemed immune to discipline for high failure rates. After all, a Clint earned
the department sixteen hundred dollars each time he had to repeat that course.
Currently, some math departments have taken draconian steps
to earn even greater revenues. Fewer sections are being taught, but the caps
have been significantly expanded. One university has had a College Algebra
section of two-hundred and eighty students (18 FTE), all taught by a woman at
instructor's pay. Hopefully, she and others will have enough graduate/teaching
assistants to correct homework and run the Scantron machines for tests.
Add to these conditions the fact that English isn't always the "mother tongue" of those at the microphone and appearing on multiple monitor screens in those auditoriums. Even if they can be understood, the foreign-born set standards far beyond those barely passing high school algebra.
Department Overhead Is Practically Nil
In fairness, departmental overhead had to be considered.
But payroll for teaching College Algebra and the pre-reqs
seemed minimal because most faculty were adjuncts, part-timers (no benefits),
or unpaid graduate/teaching assistants (GA's/TA's). Those courses required no
labs with expensive equipment to maintain and upgrade. Supplies were limited to
chalk or markers. The only other expenses were electricity for overhead
projectors, duplicating exams/syllabi, and online technical services.
"Something's got to be done about this!" I said.
It certainly wouldn't be campus protests by liberal-arts
majors and recidivists or boycotting classes in the first week when departments
needed their bodies in class for FTE counts. This wasn't Berkeley. The only
demonstrations at my research-oriented university had been to expand the
library and a puny march of students and mostly tenured faculty protesting the
Gulf War. Not the Vietnam war because students feared they would lose their
draft deferments. Thousands had poured into majors with deferments--like
religion or reserve-officer training. ROTC rolls were so high, in fact, that
one wag quipped, "Drill Day looks like a military coup." Almost no students
deduced that the way to successful agitation was to threaten never to give the
university a dime as alumni.
Besides, picketing against a war or a tuition increase is
far different from urging a waiver of College Algebra for liberal-arts majors.
And far easier. Math faculty would fight to the death any change to this vested
interest. Protesters also would be labeled losers or layabouts. From the first
time they fumbled an arithmetic answer, most began agreeing with Teacher's
judgment that they were math dunces. Shame would always keep them in chains
just like those concealing illiteracy.
I decided not long after that to enroll in College Algebra
as one of those late-blooming "older-than-average" students just to see what
was going on in the classroom. If author Barbara Ehrenreich could write a
first-person book (Nickel and Dimed)
about her experiences doing women's four worst-paying jobs, why not do the same
for liberal-arts majors struggling through that unnecessary, but required,
course?
A placement test is also required that determines if a
student is ready for College Algebra or needs one of those four, four-hour
non-credit pre-reqs. I didn't place in Math 50 the "bone-head" bottom course,
but in Math 55, one step up. After all, I'd mistaken the square root sign for
division and mistook that little power sign for a footnote marker. Well, I
thought, if Barbara had worked at four rotten jobs to write her book, I'd take
that four-course route to write mine. And even include how to arrive at solutions
of the main processes for my fellow right-brained students.
NOTES
[1] Levy, L. M.,
Reis, I. L., Grafman, J. (August 1999). "Metabolic abnormalities detected by 1H-MRS in
dyscalculia and dysgraphia." Neurology 53 (3): 639--41. Mayer,
E, Martory, M. D., Pegna, A.J., Landis, T., Delavelle, J., Annoni, J. M. (June
1999). "A pure case of Gerstmann
syndrome with a subangular lesion." Brain 122 ( Pt 6) : 1107--20.
Adams, J. W., Hitch, G. J. (October 1997). "Working memory and children's
mental addition." Journal of
Experimental Child Psychology 67 (1): 21--38.
Geary, D. C. (September 1993). "Mathematical disabilities: cognitive,
neuropsychological, and genetic components." Psychological Bulletin 114 (2):
345--62. Monuteaux, M. C., Faraone,
S.V., Herzig, K., Navsaria, N., Biederman, J. (2005). "ADHD and dyscalculia: Evidence
for independent familial transmission." Journal of Learning Disabilities 38 (1): 86--93.
Rubinsten, O., Henik, A. (February 2009). "Developmental dyscalculia: heterogeneity might not
mean different mechanisms." Trends in Cognitive Sciences. (Regul. Ed.) 13 (2): 92--9.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
