by Jennifer Block Bradner

YOU PARK YOUR car in the parking lot. You approach the ticket window. You purchase a ticket and enter the gates. You have arrived and the amusement park and all its trappings are yours for the enjoying. And then you see it. The sign that reads "You Must Be This Tall To Ride" and pictures a clown with his arm perched above a yard stick. You are not that tall even on you tiptoe toes. Your first reaction is dismay, followed by anger, and sadness and then, finally, understanding and acceptance. I believe this is much like what our students must experience upon finding out they require some sort of remediation prior to enrolling into a "college level" writing class.

The problems this issue uncovers are multifaceted, and only by beginning to unravel them can we come to understand our students' reactions, and thus, their behavior in remedial classes. First, there is the issue of semantics; there is college-level and there is perceived college-level. Such perceptions run the gambit from what Harvard expects to what J. Sargeant Reynold's Community College expects and everything above, below, and in-between. If the students entering one's college are not prepared for introductory level college coursework, then either the wrong students are being admitted, or what is considered college-level coursework is askew. That is, college faculty wish that our students came out of high school better prepared for the work expected of them. However, barring an overhaul of the secondary educational system, under-prepared high school students will continue to enter college. What college faculty can do is accept our students as they come, and make our classes, both in name and content, appropriate for them.

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