I think this is not fair. First, many college remedial courses don't achieve their aims. They have high DFW rates (D means you can't progress, as C or better i

I think this is not fair. First, many college remedial courses don't achieve their aims. They have high DFW rates (D means you can't progress, as C or better is usually the prerequisite, F is fail, W is withdraw). Their graduates often don't do that well in the next class anyway. Second, there is a lot of evidence that providing good teaching and targeted intervention in the 101 class (rather than the remedial class) increases achievement and advancement. One really interesting example is the Wisconsin Emerging Scholars program. It is not remedial, but it does take students who are no more prepared for calculus than any other students and ask them to spend more time on the harder material in class, and these students do better. Many WES students are from demographics with lower math achievement in regular classes. While remedial classes have face value, they don't actually have a track record of success! Why persist with something that does not achieve what it aims for?