There's a lot of talk about the motives behind this, but moving beyond that: is this even going to work? They say that: > Under the new system, all Cal State s

There's a lot of talk about the motives behind this, but moving beyond that: is this even going to work? They say that: > Under the new system, all Cal State students will be allowed to take courses that count toward their degrees beginning on Day 1. Students who need additional support in math or English, for example, could be placed in “stretch” courses that simultaneously provide remedial help and allow them to complete the general math and English credits required for graduation. Which sounds great, but thinking about it I think it will end up putting an unreasonable workload on students. They talk like students are wasting time in these remedial classes, but the entire purpose of the remedial classes is to get students to a point where they can succeed in the next class. If they go into a college algebra class not being able to multiply fractions, or not being comfortable with addition and subtraction (which is way more common for people entering college than you might think), they're going to have a very hard time. Sure, these "stretch courses" might be there to help them, but I fear that essentially taking 2 math courses concurrently will be overwhelming for an already disadvantaged population of students. Not to say that one needs a full k-12 math education to succeed in college math classes; you definitively do not. Like many things we teach our kids, the vast majority of what is covered in those math classes is basically useless. But they do (hopefully) result in students being comfortable with manipulating numbers and doing the basic arithmetic needed for further study. The remedial classes shouldn't be trying to cover a k-12 math education, just enough that the students can follow what is happening in subsequent classes without being confused by the arithmetic.