This is public high school education's, and society's overemphasis on college degrees fault. To what degree and what caused the other, I don't know. I remember my senior year in high school, we had to write a 2 page paper over summer reading and all of my classmates were like "2 pages!?!" I remember they were all in shock when I wrote like seven. I also had several discussions about this in college as well, college is slowly becoming, if not already became, the new high school. From my understanding, high school actually used to be somewhat difficult for the average person. Now, I took advanced classes, and had a GPA of 3.5 giving basically no effort whatsoever. Modern high school is a joke, I don't know anyone that would say otherwise. The entire education system in the United States needs an overhaul, not just the expense of college.
Yes, our public school system has generally paved the way for community colleges (and in some cases universities) to pick up the slack. I'm a perfect example of this, 10 years ago, I was a slacker. I was a stud in the humanities but a pathetic loser in the sciences. That's just how I'm wired, I'm not naturally good at the sciences so I gave little effort and took as many shortcuts as possible. I graduated high school without ever taking chemistry (a requirement for four year universities) and managed to get out somehow without even fully passing Geometry (my adviser worked it out so I could take an algebra course through the community college for high school credit).
So I graduated with a 3.0 (or just shy of it, I think) and didn't put out near as much effort as my peers. In fact, my senior year of high school I was done with school by noon.
I look back at that and am ashamed, I didn't think it was cool to be studious and disciplined in my studies and so I only tried at those subjects that came naturally to me anyway.
About 5-6 years after graduation I was sitting there, still in community college, spinning my wheels and having not advanced more than a semesters worth of units beyond where I had been when I graduated high school.
Luckily I got myself in gear and am finally realizing what it means to work hard, study hard and prioritize my education over a social life. I just wish my primary- and secondary school education had better instilled that discipline in me rather than me learning it and spending 10 years in community college.
I was going to explain this point earlier, but then I saw this. The reason nobody wants these jobs, and thus are in high demand, is that (I don't know about yours) but in my generation we were taught from a very young age that you don't want a blue collar job. Those jobs are for people who don't do well in school. If you did want to be a construction worker, your dreams were not validated, but if you wanted to be an engineer, it was validated. There's nothing wrong with encouraging ambitiousness, but there's something wrong when you are encouraging changing ambitions.
Yes, this is absolutely true. Most of our generation was instilled with a sense of duty that if we can do better, we should do better. Meaning, if we have even the slightest opportunity to attend college, attain a BA or higher and contribute to society as an educated individual, than we must do so.
Resigning ourselves to blue collar work is tantamount to forfeit or surrender on ones privilege of American citizenship.
In the US, there are more students who school from home, yes? They might be smart, motivated also, but not have taken some more advanced classes, because their parents could not teach them those subjects properly. A girl, wrote here, about a friend, who had to take years worth of remedial classes, because her parents had not given her proper instruction. In Sweden, homeschooling is forbidden. It's not possible to do, unless the student is ill, or there is some other reason. More students have a similar teaching of subjects. It's also, a much smaller country, of course, so there is more unification, with what is taught.
I like that Sweden forbids homeschooling, personally I think that route is too volatile. A persons education becomes subjective in those conditions, they will only be taught what their parents what them to learn rather than having an unbiased and well-rounded education. My ex-wife was home schooled for middle school (grades 7th and 8th) and I think it had a negative impact on her.
Not only that, but I'm convinced it has negative social implications too. I've known several home schooled individuals and they don't socialize well, at least not with their own age groups. One time my college church group hosted a combined worship night with another college group that's well known for having many home schooled students... none of them would mingle with us. We tried to connect with them but they remained in their home school cliques.
As flawed as public education is in this country, there is still a defined curriculum and structure that can be followed and the people instructing the students are professionals, not housewives who felt like taking it up as a hobby because they didn't want their kids to learn "that we came from monkeys".
I think some remedial classes have a purpose, and are not just because the student, was lazy or dumb. I've met many students, at the university where I am interning this year, who are taking remedial English classes because English is not their first language. They are strong, in other subjects. Many students at this university, are from Asia. They are very smart, at math & science. They take remedial classes, in English. Universities, in the US, they have quite a different structure, than ones, in other countries. Students, from China who plan on returning after they finish their degree, it is still compulsory that they take other classes. You must take this test, the TOEFL, to determine if your proficiency in English is strong. If it's not so strong, you must take remedial courses. In Sweden, we study only what relates to our diploma. I start medicine this year. I will not be required, to take any "general education" courses.
A rudimentary English course certainly serves a purpose for those whom English isn't a primary language. I absolutely support that. However, I don't believe there is an excuse for any student who has spent their entire life in the U.S. and yet cannot use the English language properly by the time they enter college. Even if English isn't their primary language at home, if they were born and raised here then they've had ample opportunity to learn the proper mechanics of the English language.
Unfortunately some subcultures promote variations of the English language and that supplants the proper use of it. For example, "internet speak", there are all sorts of idioms and shorthand terms that are infiltrating the verbal language, and it's disgusting in my opinion.
I do realise, there are American students, who went to American high school schools and graduated without the ability to do well at US universities. I assume, they are mainly who are you meaning. I just wanted, to discuss other reasons for remedial courses.
Yes, I believe that is where our criticisms are primarily aimed.