2 Local Universities Show Support for Remedial Classes : Education: Such courses belong at junior colleges, trustees say. Officials at UCI, Cal State Fullerton believe offering basic English and math is part of their responsibility to students.

Arguing that university students should understand basic math and English when they begin their higher educations, Cal State University trustees have taken their first steps toward sharply reducing the number of remedial-education courses offered at the system’s 21 campuses.

The move comes amid growing national debate over whether remedial education is appropriate at the university level, especially during a time of tight budgets.

But faculty members and administrators at Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine appear determined to buck the trend, contending that it is their responsibility to offer basic courses to incoming students.

Cal State Fullerton administrators plan to bring basic math courses back to their campus, and UCI professors are vowing to preserve elemental English courses at a school where nearly two-thirds of the students either learned English as a second language or learned it concurrently with another language.

“We have really focused on the need to serve the students,” said Mary Kay Tetreault, Cal State Fullerton’s vice president of academic affairs. “Previously, those who hadn’t passed the math test went to Fullerton College. But we decided it was a responsibility we should assume ourselves.”

In January, CSU trustees passed a resolution to develop an “action plan” under which they would phase out certain types of remedial courses. Students should learn the basics in high school, they argued, and those who need help should receive it at community colleges.

“If the CSU does not draw this line in the sand, they are subsidizing substandard education,” said Cal State Trustee Ralph Pesqueira, who hopes to phase out the classes within five years. “It is not our job to teach kids what they should have learned in their previous 12 years.”

The UC system’s Board of Regents has not tackled an overhaul of remedial education, and UCI’s courses are not in immediate danger. But instructors at UCI are concerned that the debate will soon touch their campus.

UCI freshmen are more likely to need basic English instruction than those at almost every other UC campus, UC statistics show. About one of every two UCI freshmen enters the university with writing skills below UC standards, according to statistics for 1989-93, the most recent available.

UC students who earn low scores on national English exams or UC system assessment tests must take brush-up courses. UC students are drawn from the top 12.5% of the state’s high school graduates, but educators say students’ economic, academic, cultural and language backgrounds play a role in poor writing skills.

At Cal State Fullerton, William Haddad, head of graduate and international programs, said any student admitted to the school should be able to take the classes he or she needs.

“There’s something wrong to me in admitting a young person and then sending her off to a junior college,” he said.

Haddad said Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges officials recommended in 1990 that the university use its own professors to teach basic math courses.

Some faculty members dissent. Prof. James Friel, chairman of the school’s mathematics department, said it is inappropriate for Cal State Fullerton to offer remedial courses.

“That is because they’re not college-level classes,” he said.

But even after the math courses return to Cal State Fullerton, Haddad said, there will not be enough spots for students who need them. About 1,000 students do not pass Cal State Fullerton’s math assessment exams each year, but only the 300 worst performers can get into remedial classes. Others take courses elsewhere or slip by.

The Cal State system gives its Fullerton campus $90,000 to fund the classes, said Haddad, who worries that the funding will evaporate.

Robin Scarcella, director of the English as a Second Language program in UCI’s School of Humanities said poor writing ability among some incoming freshmen can be traced to inadequate education earlier in life. Some students who learn English as a secondary language never master proper writing skills, she said.

Teachers often avoid correcting all mistakes on papers because they do not want to discourage students, said Scarcella, who has worked with young Vietnamese and Korean students in Orange County.

“California schools have a responsibility to language-minority students,” Scarcella said. “Some students feel deceived (when) they come in (to UCI) as valedictorians, and we tell them they’re using words wrong. They say, ‘Why didn’t people teach me this before?’ ”

Cal State Trustee Pesqueira said he favors immersion for ESL students and standard school instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic to prepare students for higher education.

We need to “take an almost Draconian measure,” Pesqueira said. “We shouldn’t be admitting people who aren’t ready to come to the university.”

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Trouble With English

Nearly half the recent incoming freshmen at UC Irvine have not demonstrated college- level English skills, as shown by scores on national exams, transferring credits from another college or passage of a UC “Subject A” examination. UCI freshmen not meeting requirement: *

Number of students ‘93*: 1,120 * Most recent information available *

Percentage of students ‘93*: 48.7 * Most recent information available. *

Campus Comparison In 1993, UC Riverside was the only UC system school with a higher percentage than UCI of freshmen considerd not proficient in English. The comparison:

Percentage Number of students of students Riverside 626 51.2 Irvine 1,120 48.7 Santa Barbara 1,153 42.1 Davis 866 30.9 Los Angeles 766 25.7 San Diego 498 23.0 Santa Cruz 294 21.1 Berkeley 411 15.3

Sources: Corporate Student System; Office of the President, University of California; Researched by ALICIA DI RADO / Los Angeles Times