An Example of College Benefitting From the Dumbing Down of High School

Remedial Courses in College Stir Questions Over Cost, Effectiveness – WSJ.

Here is what I wrote.

“From decades of observation – as a math professor – I can shed light on a fair amount of the problem.

Poor high school education starts in college, not high school.  In a nutshell, here is what happens.  (Actual cases, and more explanation are on my blog inside-higher-ed .  There is also a suggestion for  change.)

A highly regarded (though not highly scrupulous) professor gets a multimillion dollar grant to produce PhD’s in an area of “national need” – like say, math, where there is pressure for more native English speakers to teach in college.  That professor pumps out PhD’s – many of which are not qualified.

Many of those PhD’s go on to teach at a regional college.  Most don’t do this well – for many reasons.  So, of course their students don’t learn.  Some of these students go on to teach in high school, though they don’t have an understanding of their subject – usually no fault of their own.  And then there we are – sending a lot of uneducated high school grads out in the world.”