Public hearings to discuss future of CSU schools

By Linda Fimlaid, Forty-Niner Online
Sept. 11, 1995

The Cal State University Board of Trustees remediation proposal, designed to significantly reduce the number of remedial classes through the enforcement of stricter admission policies for students entering the CSU system, will be the focus of a series of public hearings.

The hearings will begin Sept. 21 in San Diego. A Los Angeles public hearing will be on Sept. 29 at 9:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

"It has become an obvious fact that more and more students are illprepared to do college work in reading, writing, speaking and basic math," Ralph Pesqueira, a CSU trustee, said. "Last year 43 percent of all entering freshmen were not prepared for college-level English and math.

"We need to know why students come to the university after 12 years of education unprepared for college level English and math."

Pesqueira said preparations for students to attend the university should be the responsibility of the school boards, administrators and teachers of children in kindergarten through 12th grade.

But Armando Contreras, executive assistant to Cal State Long Beach President Robert Maxson disagreed. "We can't just blame public schools because there are a lot of funding and resource issues involved," he said. "Looking at the long-term five-year plan seems to be a compromise approach."

The trustee's proposal has been sent to more than 1,000 education leaders and interest groups for comment. Pesqueira said the proposal includes a plan to recommend assessment exams for 11thgrade students. If students perform poorly on the exam, they will have another year to bring their skills up to the university entrance level.

The proposal will be voted on by the CSU Board of Trustees in January 1996 and the five-year, transitional phase-in plan will go into immediate effect if approved.

"If they think they can reverse the literacy and math ability (deficit) in 5 years, they are nuts, said Carl Kemp, CSULB Associated Students president. "I think it is a bad idea. If we limit access to not only under-represented students but to all students, we will go against the CSU mission which assures access to education."

Pesqueira created the sub-committee on remedial education in January to address the issue of the large number of entering freshmen who do not meet the CSU system admission requirements and need remedial classes.

"We will be drawing a line in the sand," Pesqueira said. "We will be calling together leaders in education in the State of California including the Board of Trustees and the state board od educatin and saying to them, "in Fall 2001, CSU will not admit students not properly prepared to attend English and math courses on entrance to the university."

The remedial-education proposal does not include the elimination of all rememdial education courses. The proposal will target entering freshmen in an effort to significantly reduce the number of rememdial classes, Pesqueira said. Returning students and English as a Second Language students who have arrived in the United States recently would still be able to take rememdial classes.

"This is not quasi-affirmative action," Pesqueira said. "I am of Hispanic background and am commiitted to access to the university tempered with quality preparation."

Comments on the proposal may be sent to the Chancellor's Office in Long Beach, in care of Ralph Pesqueira, trustee and chair of the committee on educational policy.