Can you read between the lines?

Date: May 6, 2004

Can you read between the lines?

Date: May 6, 2004

Could it be that the Dome Gnome is having troubles with his admissions standards?

Perhaps he should just go home.

However, we would not be unhappy if he decided to just roam.

Fire Shelby · Status: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by: truth4usm/AH
"Here is an excerpt from today's Student Printz regarding USM's English Department. Can you read between the lines? "Other issues affecting the department have been the increase in developmental English classes, ENG 99, for those students who scored below a 16 on their ACT. “Up until about four years ago the enforcement of that rule wasn’t always enforced,” Salda said. We traditionally scheduled three sections of 99 in the fall and one in the spring to accommodate the needs of these students.” Then the department was informed they would need to increase the developmental classes to 10 in the fall and three to four in the spring, all without the addition of new faculty, Salda said." (I've bolded relevant text to help you out!). "

I am not an elitist, but how does one score below 16 on the ACT, and if one does, is one really ready for the intellectual challenges of unversity course work?

Again, I am not a snob--just wondering how anyone who makes below a 16 on the ACT can keep up.

Date: May 6, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by:
" I am not an elitist, but how does one score below 16 on the ACT, and if one does, is one really ready for the intellectual challenges of unversity course work? Again, I am not a snob--just wondering how anyone who makes below a 16 on the ACT can keep up. "

They can't. However, with the addition of ENG 99, MAT 99, and other similar courses, these folks are allowed/encouraged to enter the university system. Unfortunatly, most of them do not graduate, but it does allow the said university to report increased enrollment numbers and scam some extra tuition money.

Sounds like an idea that came from a "business" mindset.

Date: May 6, 2004

I think this has more to do with the enrollment numbers. As last fall showed, the upper administation is mad about being the "largest" university. By lower the entry requirements, more students can enroll, thus busting the numbers. The courses are probably a way to meet the needs of lowering the standards.

Does it really matter all that much of USM is the 2nd largest (and then only by a hair)???

Date: May 6, 2004

I do know of one person who attended USM, graduated, and went on to get a graduate degree at USM; this person scored a 15 on the ACT. Some people are just not good at taking standardized tests.

Fire Shelby · Status: Offline

quote:
Originally posted by: WaitingForTheEnd
"I think this has more to do with the enrollment numbers. As last fall showed, the upper administation is mad about being the "largest" university. By lower the entry requirements, more students can enroll, thus busting the numbers. The courses are probably a way to meet the needs of lowering the standards. Does it really matter all that much of USM is the 2nd largest (and then only by a hair)???"

Shelby's concern should be the quality of education students receive, not the quantity he can lure in.

Date: May 6, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by: WaitingForTheEnd
"I think this has more to do with the enrollment numbers. As last fall showed, the upper administation is mad about being the "largest" university. By lower the entry requirements, more students can enroll, thus busting the numbers. The courses are probably a way to meet the needs of lowering the standards. Does it really matter all that much of USM is the 2nd largest (and then only by a hair)???"

I imagine Stanford isn't too interested in being the largest university in California. For that matter does Princeton care if it's the largest one in NJ?? And that university in Massachusetts - Harvard - I wonder how concerned they are about being the biggest university in that state? Somebody's mindset is whacked.

Date: May 6, 2004

quote:
Originally posted by:
"Again, I am not a snob--just wondering how anyone who makes below a 16 on the ACT can keep up."

I was going to whip out something cute about "they keep up because they all have phenomenal 40 yard dash times," but the truth is that USM's athletic programs can't really afford to recruit too many players that don't score the NCAA minimum to begin with.

Why should USM lower admissions standards when the state already has open-door admissions community colleges that have put a lot of effort into developmental education? The only answer is that the university hopes to cash in on the famous "revolving door" concept: admit low ability students, cash in on their Title IV aid, put them on academic suspension for a semester, readmit, cash in, rinse & repeat.

Does USM really need money so badly that it is willing to fleece citizens (students) who could be better (and more affordably) served by other education providers?

At the junior & senior level at USM, community college transfers outnumber the students who began at the university as freshmen. That is stone cold fact. Certainly, many of these CC transfers did indeed needed remediation to be able to succeed at the college level. But they got that remediation far less expensively at community colleges.

Compare USM tuition with the tuition at PRCC, JCJC, or MGCCC. If USM wants to teach extensive developmental ed classes, fine, but it ought to be allowed to charge no more for those classes than the going rate at area community colleges.

Let the university be a university, for cryin' out loud!

Date: May 6, 2004

How do you teach seven more sections per semester without adding any faculty?

I understand this rinse and repear scenario. It was done to me at a "major univesity" where an entire PhD class was admitted in my department, charged tuition (a lot of tuition) and then no one was funded for following year. Not even the straight A's. A couple of folks were alternates and eventually got some money, but the rest of us left. There was talk of lawsuits, but everybody was broke. It took me ten years to pay back to loans, and then only because of an inheritence. It is a very, very ugly thing to do, a life-damaging thing to do.

Contrast with Notre Dame where I was an alternate. When I suggested borrowing the money to come there, they said, no, if we don't fund you, you don't come here.

If USM does want to be world-class, then it has to treat its students in a world-class fashion. But that being said, I know a lot of high schoolers who really don't understand the difference between "CC" and "Univ"