Keep school challenging

The following editorial appeared Tuesday in the Clark County Herald:

When higher education turns into remedial education, taxpayers get less bang for their bucks and students confront unnecessary impediments in their long and expensive quests for degrees.

But that’s what is happening with almost 40 percent of Washington state’s college and university freshmen who, according to the Higher Education Coordinating Board, must enroll in remedial or pre-college classes, primarily in math.

High schools can and should do a better job of helping students prepare for college.

The HEC board proposes increasing the requirement for a high school diploma from three credits of math to four credits, with at least one credit in the senior year of high school.

Also, the HEC board wants to require two credits of laboratory science, and one must be algebra-based. The current requirement is two credits of science, including one year of lab science. …

A recent report from the HEC board stated: “Requiring college-bound students in Washington to complete a rigorous high school curriculum would reduce the number of college freshmen who require remedial instruction and increase the number of students who complete their degrees.”

Or more bluntly: Colleges shouldn’t have to do the high schools’ work, yet that’s precisely what remedial classes must do.

There’s a third HEC board recommendation that we like: requiring three credits of academic core coursework in each year of high school.

That would prevent senior slackers from easing off and completing only the minimum requirements.

Keeping the academic regimen challenging, especially through the finish line, puts more wind in the sails of college-bound students.