College 'R Us?

Back in March the heads of Arkansas four-year universities signed a pledge that their schools will double the number of degrees by 2025.

Now, you can’t throw a dead cat here in Arkansas and not hit a college or university. The Big One, the University of Arkansas, besides its main campus at Fayetteville, has colleges in five other cities – Fort Smith, Little Rock, Monticello, Pine Bluff and a medical school in Little Rock. Arkansas State’s main campus is in Jonesboro, with locations also in Beebe, Heber Springs, Mountain Home and Newport. Then there are Arkansas Tech, in Russellville; Henderson State, in Arkadelphia; Southern Arkansas, in Magnolia; and the University of Central Arkansas, in Conway. Those are the state colleges. Add the 14 two-year colleges (18 locations), 10 religious or private colleges and two private two-year colleges … Well, there’s a bunch of schools.

To double the number of degrees pretty much means doubling the number of college graduates. But, the number of schools does not mean a large amount of educated students.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette pointed out in a March 28 editorial:

“Last time we checked, which was just in February, the number of college students in Arkansas who needed remedial classes had jumped from 51.3 percent to 54.6 percent. If this is progress, what would retrogression be?

“When this year’s college entrants in Arkansas were tested, 46.1 percent needed a remedial course in math before they could go on. And 33.7 percent required remedial work in English. Two-thirds of the students who needed remedial work needed it in at least two subjects.”

So, will the colleges and universities somehow smart-up high school graduates, or maybe, just possibly, dumb down college classes? And if more than half the students already in college had to have remedial classes, how much down will future classes be dumbed?