The "under-prepared" student

Reading through files I saved on the topic of education, I came across this passage:

as faculty we are confronted with the undeniable reality that we teach under-prepared, nontraditional students often lacking the personal, social, and economic resources to support themselves in an under-funded educational system in which they too often fail.

Before I begin to unceremoniously shred the under-examined beliefs and methods of the under-prepared educational institutions, I feel obligated to acknowledge that I have no certifiable expertise, nor have I consumed a body of literature in the field. I'm expressing thoughts that seem to have merit to me from my lowly vantage point substantiated by the little I have read and experienced.

It is equally valid to express the notion that students are coming to us (the colleges) under prepared by saying that colleges are over prepared for the students enrolled. If the students cannot do the work assigned, what is more true? That the student is under prepared, or that the work is inappropriate for the student? Ah, but colleges have required curriculum, and must maintain academic standards.

The lies we tell about our duty and our purposes, the meaningless words of science and philosophy, are walls that topple before a bewildered little "Why".

John Steinbeck
The Log from the Sea of Cortez

Why? Why would teaching at the level of the students enrolled dumb down the classes? Have you ever thought that maybe one reason students leave K-12 and enter college under-prepared is their lessons were never appropriate for them? Hey kid, I know you didn't understand what you just did, but the budget told the curriculum to tell the teacher that it's time to move on. Or more likely, I didn't really know that, because if I critically examined the flaws in the system, how could I possibly get through another school year making the most of it, helping those I can as best I can? Ah, the supposition I'm attempting to ponder: colleges are suffering from under examined beliefs and methods. Tradition is powerful stuff often worth maintaining, but slavery was once, and perhaps still is, a tradition.

January 8, 2010.

After reading what's above, I realize I was pontificating without substance. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds descriptive, and I suspect I'm likely to continue on the same vein. The concept I'm attempting to discuss is that curriculum must be appropriate for the student, or learning will not occur. I'm not sure why I threw in that slavery comparison, but I think I'll leave it.

When a student is "under prepared," what we educators do is attempt to provide accommodations that allow the student to complete the assigned work with their current abilities. I'm advocating that the accommodation we provide is work that is appropriate for their abilities, and measure their success based on improved skills.