Remedial College Classes Benefit Students and Society Essay -- Argumen

Remedial College Classes Benefit Students and Society Depending on the opinion, one could have been excited or startled by comments President George W. Bush recently made. It was August 29th, and the day had come for him to deliver his â€Å"Back-to-School† speech. Always pushing for improving education, the President urged state leaders to look at a new tactic for making the students achieve; he argued against remedial classes in colleges. State leaders across the country, if they had not already done so, began seriously debating the issue of whether remedial classes belonged in the states’ universities and colleges. Indeed, there is a lot to question about the state of higher-education remediation. Some of the first issues that come up are the alarmingly high number of incoming freshmen and other students that need to take a remedial class, which is somewhere around one per every four students (Cloud 60; Ravitch 106). Also important is the significant amount of money governments spent to finance remedial clas ses, which comes to about one billion dollars per year nationwide. With all of this fiscal spending, it comes as no surprise that conservatives are spearheading the push to end remedial classes in colleges and universities. They see it as money spent to teach the same thing to a person twice, and nothing bothers republicans more then laziness and failure at the cost of fiscal money (Cloud 60). However, the actual definition differs from the classic GOP interpretation. A college remedial class, as defined in John Cloud’s Time article, â€Å"Who’s Ready for College?,† is any class that teaches a subject that should have been mastered by the end of twelfth grade (60). Is this wasted money or beneficial educa... ...nal Standards.† Phi Delta Kappan 80.7 (Mar. 1999): 548-9. Cloud, John. â€Å"Who’s Ready for College?† Time 160.16 (Oct. 2002): 61-2. Cresanta, Judy. â€Å"Placing the Blame for Remedial Education.† 15 Jul. 1998. Nevada Policy Research Institute. 17 Nov. 2002. Oudenhoven, Betsy. â€Å"Remediation at the Community College: Pressing Issues, Uncertain Solutions.† New Directions for Community Colleges 117 (Spring 2002): 35-44. Ravitch, Dianne. â€Å"The Fight for Higher Standards.† Forbes 160.13 (Dec. 1997): 106. St. John, Eric. â€Å"Roaring Up From Behind.† Black Issues in Higher Education 17.12 (Aug. 3 2002): 26-31. Wright, Scott W. â€Å"The Ill-Prepared and the Ill-Informed.† Black Issues in Higher Education 15 (Mar. 1998): 12-5. Wright, Scott W. â€Å"This Isn’t Working!† Black Issues in Higher Education 14 (Feb. 1998): 14-15.