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[Phys-L] Re: On the Impact of Standards

UCSC (where I worked for ~ 13 years) has the poorest grad. rate of all
the UC campuses. Why? It's believed mainly due to the Sr. thesis
requirement. A few of the Physics ones have been published in the usual
journals -- to give an idea of the std. Also it has (still?) the
reputation of having the most flexible program. (i.e. Double majors, the
student can create his own major, etc. -- I think Harvard is (was?)
similar; cf. also Chomsky's experience at MIT.)

bc, who thinks a 95% survival rate in just about anything is unusual.
e.g. infant survival, war casualty rates, etc.


p.s. 91% is fantastic. cf. community colleges; my search found ones as
low as 5%. WA State CC is rather good, 39%:

http://www.wscc.edu/students/gradrate.htm


where I PT Taught:

College Persistence Rates: In accordance with Title I of Public Law
101-542, the Student Right-to-Know Act, colleges are required to provide
the first to second year persistence rates of full-time entering
freshmen students. SBCC has a first to second year persistence rate of
66.5% which means that 66.5% of full-time freshmen entering
SBCC in Fall 2002 were continuously enrolled through Fall 2003. SBCC has
a first to third year persistence rate of 39.7% which means that 39.7%
of full-time freshmen entering SBCC in Fall 2002 were continuously
enrolled through Fall 2004.

Not bad methinks.




Arlyn DeBruyckere wrote:

Actually, YES. And not from one or a few experiences but over 20 years
of watching unprepared students be accepted to college only to drop out.
Maybe you can give me some examples of colleges where more than 95% of
beginning students earned a degree. I don't know of any, even at the
prestigious MIT they report a 91% graduation rate (
http://admissions.mit.edu/AdmissionsWeb/appmanager/AdmissionsWeb/Main?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageWhosAtMIT
). In Minnesota (the main subject of the first post) the college
graduation rate after 6 years is 58%. With a national average of 54% (
http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/index.php?submeasure=27&year=2003&level=nation&mode=data&state=0)
and no state having a rate above 70% I think that I have made a good
generalization. And YES this is a good example for physics students. I
wish they could observe and generalize this well. Too many think that
what happens in physics class only happens in physics class and never
happens anywhere else in their world just as too many think that they
have a good chance of graduating from college without high school
chemistry, physics or any math above "Basic Algebra II".


Jack Uretsky wrote:


So you generalize to all colleges from one, of a few,
expeeriences? Is this a good example for physics students?
Regards,
Jack


On Wed, 25 May 2005, Arlyn DeBruyckere wrote:




I'm sorry that you are insulted. I have no experience with MIT. I do
have experience with other colleges here in Minnesota, including some
private colleges that advertise having better students and
programs. One particular student who asked me to write an
"evaluation" for her for a local private college had scored a 17 on
the ACT. I don't know what the national average is but I do know
many students who have scores in the 30's. I know that for this
particular college the "cut off" for admission is 21. This particular
student got a D- in the high school chemistry A (first semester) and
elected not to take chemistry B because she didn't think she could
pass. Her declared major for college was pre-med. My "evaluation"
stated that she would need extreme assistance to be successful. She
didn't make it to the end of her freshman year. What did the college
care? She paid her full tuition and was placed in typical freshman
classes of over 100 students. What did one additional student make
to the class load? The college got her money and counted her as one
of the approximately 50% that drop out by the junior year.







--
Arlyn DeBruyckere
Science Teacher
School Photographer
Hutchinson High School
1200 Roberts Road SW
Hutchinson MN 55350

HHS Weather at http://www.hutch.k12.mn.us/weather/current_vantage_pro.htm

http://www.hutch.k12.mn.us/teacher/ArlynDeBruyckereHS.cfm
mailto:arlynd@hutch.k12.mn.us

http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/hea/
http://www.educationminnesota.org
If it is to be it is up to me!

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