12.5% of UCSD Students Need Remedial Math — And the University Had to Add an Even More Basic Level
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses how UC San Diego now offers two levels of remedial math covering gaps going back to elementary school, revealing the consequences of grade inflation and dishonest reporting to parents.
Key Takeaways
- A flagship university now teaches elementary math - UC San Diego has added two levels of remedial math covering elementary and middle school content
- Grades are lying to families - Students with A's and B's in high school math arrive at college needing remedial coursework
- Removing standardized tests made the problem worse - Without SAT/ACT scores, the UC system relies on inflated high school grades
- Systemic pressures drive grade inflation - Teachers and administrators inflate grades to avoid conflict with parents
- Remedial courses delay graduation - These courses don't count toward degree requirements, adding time and cost for students
Transcript
grades are not telling parents the truth about how much their students are learning you may have seen this week that the university of california at san diego is having to offer remedial math classes not one level but two levels of remedial math classes to teach not just the high school math that students may have gaps in but the elementary and middle school math that kids may have gaps in this is a highly selective flagship university system and it is very very hard to get into So why are kids getting in if they don't have the math skills?
I think what it comes down to is their report cards are giving them grades that say your kid is passing math, your kid is learning math, your kid is on track.
And there are some issues with writing and other subjects as well.
But to concentrate on math a little bit, if a kid has A's and B's in math and needs elementary remedial in college, We're not being honest with families.
We're not giving them the information they need to make decisions, to hold their kids accountable, to hold their schools accountable.
And I wonder if there needs to be a test, because part of the problem here in the University of California system is they're not allowed to use standardized tests at the moment.
They're not allowed to use SAT.
They're not allowed to use ACT.
So what are they relying on to assess their students' readiness to do college-level work?
Well, it's high school grades.
Well, what's happening with high school grades they are largely inflated we don't want to get yelled at by parents so we're giving kids grades you know administrators are maybe putting the pressure on there's all these systemic pressures to give grades that don't really reflect learning and now it's catching up with kids in college they may have to take this class multiple times to pass and to get the credit they need in order and in fact usually it's not even a graduation requirement right if it's a remedial class you have to take it just as a prerequisite to the actual class that counts toward your major and And some of these kids are math majors.
Some of them are math majors in remedial math.
And we can do better than this, right?
College-bound kids can learn math at a high level.
We can teach them.
But if we're not being truthful about it, if we are not honestly reporting to parents, here's where your kid is in math, we're not going to make the corrections that we need to.
Let me know what you think.