Math tutor Kyle Glashower said many of the students he helps don’t understand the basic skills they need to pass math.
“It seems, especially in the lower-level classes, they are struggling with skills they are assumed to know when they come into the university,” said Glashower, a mathematics doctoral student.
“So then they struggle with the new material because they don’t have the old material to build on.”
Rising rates of students enrolling in remedial classes is one of the reasons the state of Michigan toughened graduation requirements for high school students under the new Michigan Merit Curriculum, said Sharif Shakrani, co-director of MSU’s Education Policy Center.
“Even in selective universities like MSU, almost 20 percent of freshmen end up in a remedial course,” Shakrani said.
“There is ample evidence to show that students who end up in two remedial courses — their probability of finishing college is low.”
Starting with the high school class of 2011, this past year’s freshmen, students are required to take four years of math, including Algebra I and II.
Math is a skill that if you don’t use, you lose, Shakrani said.
“Often students take (math) classes the first three years, then more or less coast their senior year,” he said.
“When they come to a place like MSU, they often don’t do well on the placement test because they forgot how to do math.”
Some people believe the classes are too rigorous.
“One of the key components to ensuring a high quality education for all Michigan students is the right curriculum. We need to prepare our students for college and the workplace,” said Doug Pratt, communications director for the Michigan Education Association, or MEA.
The MEA believes in strengthening the curriculum, but believes the strict math requirements are overboard.
“One of the problems is they have to pass Algebra II. There are a lot of careers that require math skills, but not Algebra II,” Pratt said.
“We’ve heard from a lot of home builders that are worried not enough students will have a practical understanding of geometry.”
Students need to be dealt with individually, so they can be better prepared for their specific majors when they get to college, Pratt said.
“It’s about making a curriculum relevant to kids,” he said.
Shakrani said it’s an insult to say Michigan students can’t complete the tougher requirements.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Students in India and China are learning these things because they are required to. For us to say our kids can’t do this is an insult.”
Glashower said a problem could still arise in college if schools just pass students through the classes without having them learn the basics.
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“They should be putting benchmarks in place, making sure they know the skills they need,” Glashower said.
William C. Brown, MSU’s director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Mathematics, said the department will have to wait to see the effects the rule will have on MSU.
Right now MSU has one remedial math class, a starter class in which a student doesn’t receive credit, Intermediate Algebra 1825.
“We have quite a few kids who take that,” Brown said.
“The more math they take the better. All universities have a math requirement. This can be very difficult for students to satisfy if they have taken math for only two or three years in high school. If they have four years of math they should pass easily.”
