High
school students confront uphill battle
By Joyce Kelly
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
findings in a report by the California State
University system, said that high school
students attending Cal State Long Beach
are not prepared for college courses in
English and math.
The Education Policy Committee of the CSU
system also reported that approximately
44 percent of entering freshmen were not
proficient or ready for college level English
and math.
Jason McCrarey, an English instructor who
has assisted with the Writing Proficiency
Exam at CSULB for three years, believes
that the districts that the students attend
school plays an important role in the preparation
of the students.
“You really do see a difference. Students
in Orange County seem to be ready at the
college level,” he said.
McCrarey who also teaches at Long Beach
City, Orange Coast and Harbor colleges says
that the differences in the funds that the
districts receive may be factored in the
problem.
“The districts make a big difference with
the money they receive,” he said.
Some colleges, such as CSULB, use the Summer
Bridge Program as a means to get the students
at college level. The report suggested that
a junior should be able to prepare for college
level subjects by utilizing the summer and
senior year.
McCrarey thinks this is unfair to expect
from students.
“It is not fair for the students to come
this far and be told that they are not prepared,”
he said. “They are supposed to know how
to read. They should have been taught along
the way.”
Other contributing factors in the students’
lack of skills could be blamed on the fact
that some districts are forced to hire people
without properly interviewing them.
Not all of the students applying for admittance
to CSULB are freshmen who have problems
with being proficient in math.
“Some districts are in a hurry to hire and
keep teachers that they are forced to hire
them without a real interview screening,”
McCrarey said. “Some of the teachers are
not properly trained.”
The problems concerning the deficiency in
the students’ skills upon entering college
continue to be a mystery as to who is to
be blamed. Yet some students, no matter
what area or school they may attend, are
prepared for the college level math and
English.
Amber Van Hees, a senior at Mira Costa High
School in Manhattan Beach, lives in Compton
has applied to attend several colleges.
She has family members who include, probation
officers, medical doctor, dentist, nurses
and accountants.
Van Hees would like to attend a college
in another part of the country; therefore
she said she made sure she would be ready.
She said she is prepared and has the skills
it takes to attend college, because she
passed her exit exam.
“We have an exit exam in math and English,”
she said. “We start taking it in the
ninth grade and if we don’t pass it, we
take it until we do. That is if we want
to go to college.”
Van Hees said students are aware of whether
they are prepared for college because they
apply for early entrance to college.
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