Response: Remediation at a Crossroads

"But people also go to college to feel their minds working, to remedy a poor education, to refine who they are." (30) 

In "Remediation at a Crossroads", Mike Rose incorporates many of the issues in remedial education that we've discussed in class. First, he is calling for change in these programs, especially now that it is receiving national attention, and with national attention, comes the chance for increase funding. Community colleges do not receive nearly the amount of funds necessary to run their programs and work on increasing student successes. As we've seen with the Accelerated Learning Program at the Community College of Baltimore County, they created a program that was "trying to do something fresh with remediation" (28), and it stepped away from what Rose calls the "standard remedial model." Innovative programs are necessary to spark change, not only restructuring remedial education, but also helping remove the negative stigma placed on the program and the students. 

Rose also addresses the methods used for teaching remedial courses, for example the past tense drill exercise he witnessed in the classroom. It is important to understand the mechanics English, but when it interferes with the development of writing, the students will struggle to pass the course. In this New York Times article, we see how Vladimir de Jesus struggles to pass the required developmental courses in math, which he needs to passes in order to graduate. We keep seeing students' experiences in community college through many lenses but their own, so it would be even more eye opening if a student would write about the challenges they face in remedial courses. It's going to take a lot of effort to create any affective changes in a system that still operates on old methods, and as Rose mentioned, there isn't a single solution that can solve these very complicated issues.