ERIC Number: ED181945
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Providing for the Unprepared College Student.
Jones, Arnold P., Jr.
With an open door policy and the influx of non-traditionally oriented students, community colleges face one of the most critical issues in education today--educating the academically underprepared student. A large percentage of the Chicago City Colleges' enrollment scores in the lowest third on tests of academic ability. These students are not traditional college students, and it is a mistake to try to make them fit the traditional student mold by focusing on remediating academic, motivational, and financial deficiencies. In order for these students to be successful in a college environment, the college must provide many opportunities for success experiences and for those activities which enhance students' self-concepts. Curricula and support services must emphasize students' strengths and not their weaknesses. One major inhibiting factor to student success is the students' negative self-perception. Seligman's experiments with the learning patterns of dogs may provide some insight into the effects of repeated failure, and Atkinson and Feather's study of achievement motivation may provide guidelines for motivating the "failure-threatened personality." To insure equal opportunity as well as equal access, alternative teaching approaches should be attempted to accommodate varied learning styles, academic standards must be maintained, and the gap between the non-traditional student and the traditional college should be narrowed. (AYC)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A