The following is a continuation of an interview conducted by Bridge writer Mike Herrera IV with Student Government President James Cortez, which appeared in our last issue.
Herrera: Faculty turnover came up briefly at the SG meeting. What do you all think about that?Cortez: We’re meeting with Dr. Arenaz [Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs] and we said, ‘Hey, a lot of faculty are leaving. Not only is it difficult because we have to replace them, but students have to find new supervisors for their theses.’ SG helps out with registration, retention, parking issues, and physical plant. This year we’re trying to improve the academic backbone for the students as well. Herrera: That’s a new objective for SG, isn’t it?Cortez: Yes. One of the things I tell my branch members [is] we have to be the leaders in our classroom. We have to be the ones making high grades. We have to set the example and show…it’s possible to get a civic education and have a strong academic record. I think one of our problems in Student Government is we’ve had the student side, but we’ve never incorporated the academic side. Herrera: In what specific ways, besides setting an example in the classroom, can SG lead academically?Cortez: That’s the starting point…We’re trying to have all senators meet with their deans to discuss academic issues. [Some of what we talk about] is student-activity related, but some of it is academic. I mentioned the dead week, the dead day. I remember last semester getting out of class one day and having final exams starting the next day. You haven’t even finished lecture C, and we’re starting to be tested on lectures A through D. Dr. Keck says some professors told him, ‘If we have a dead week, we’ll see them [students] playing with water balloons and slides.’Herrera: (laughing) Is that a shot at the Pre-Exam Jam?Cortez: I think so. But I told Dr. Keck, and Dr. Keck completely agreed with me, it’s up to the students to do what they want with their time. Some students don’t relax all semester. For the ones who haven’t spent so much time relaxing, that time can be used to have some fun and study, not cram. Herrera: Mental recess?Cortez: Exactly. When you have a dead week as opposed to starting finals the day after class, you don’t cram. You carefully bring all the material from chapters one through seventeen together, and you see the bigger picture, and that’s when you really grow. When I tell Dr. Keck that we need time to study, I’m not just saying that because I want higher academic performance. I’m saying it because I want higher academic growth. We also talked to him about problems with college algebra.Herrera: What’s wrong with college algebra? I’ve heard that mentioned at your meetings too.Cortez: It’s my understanding that a lot of students are having problems with the course. And, look, I read the book. It’s not that difficult, so you may say, How can students have so much trouble with college algebra? But then you realize, Oh, the professors. The professors aren’t really connecting to the students the way that they should. Maybe I’m just saying this because I took calculus. I was able to get the algebra credit waved because I had a good teacher in high school. But for other students, professors are requiring them to do online training that sometimes aren’t even available or aren’t even coordinated with the class.Herrera: This is MyMathZone?Cortez: I think that’s what it’s called. [Professors] give grades to students based on these programs, and then when the programs mess up the professors say, Oh, I don’t know.Herrera: But you know, that sounds like what’s going on with Freshman Composition. We use MyCompLab, which works well when it works well. But it doesn’t always work. We get these new programs, and we’re told-well, I guess we’re asked-to incorporate it. MyCompLab goes down like MyMathZone. PASE [Programs for Academic Support and Enrichment] does the same thing. They spend all this money on these programs, and then faculty need to use them so we can justify the spending. I mean most English instructors-I guess I can only speak for myself-but I think most of us would just assume not teach writing in a computer lab to begin with. And we have the common course syllabus, which already has the computer exercises built into the grading. Now, we can choose to make it like five percent or whatever of the final grade. I’m wondering if something similar is going on with math. Cortez: Well, but you work with them; you don’t penalize them for the program not working well. Herrera: Is that what students are telling you about algebra? Cortez: I guess I just learned this information through other sources. This is just what I’ve heard around campus, what students tell me as a mentor. Herrera: So nobody’s come and officially complained to SG about college algebra faculty? Cortez: No, that hasn’t happened. Herrera: What mechanism handles that? If students complain about a professor, what happens?Cortez: I think the most we can do is bring it up to our dean. Over the summer, I did hear the passing rates for college algebra, and they’re obviously not good. I think they’re lower than fifty percent. I’m not too sure about that. You heard students say ‘I got a C, and I’m one of the few who passed the class’. Nationwide, college algebra is a hard course. You just need the right strategy. Here’s another thing: if the professor goes over something, [and] the student doesn’t get it, the professor says, ‘You should know this from high school.’ Well, if they knew it in high school, why is the professor even putting it up on the board? Does that make sense?Herrera: Well, that sort of comes up in composition.Cortez: But you help them, right? Herrera: Is this something else students tell you? Are there any specific professors?Cortez: Maybe I’m just looking at it differently because I’ve had good professors. Dr. Ni once told me, ‘You should’ve learned this in high school.’ But he explained it; he still helped out. Herrera: The philosophy of if they don’t know it by now, it’s not my job to teach it, comes up in several disciplines, but I think that’s in the minority. In writing, for example, Kevin Lindberg rejects that idea. He says, Damn it! They have to learn it somewhere. I’m paraphrasing. Cortez: (laughs)Herrera: But again, there may be a similarity between college algebra and freshman composition. When it comes to basic grammar, some will tell you it’s not a grammar class; it’s a writing class. The idea is that MyCompLab will catch them up with whatever they missed in high school, so we don’t have to spend too much class time on it. Of course, I spend entire periods on fragments, run-ons, and comma splices. But I wonder if that’s what the math faculty are trying to do? Let the computer cover the basics and move on. It’s a relevant question for such a historically weak student population. Cortez: Exactly. I mean the pass rates for freshman composition, math, the basics, are all pretty low.
(For the record, the Office of the University Provost provided these first-time pass rates for fiscal year 2008: MATH 1314–52.8%; HIST 1301–74.4%; ENGL 1301– 71.8%.)
Cortez: And I believe most professors, if they have some departmental standards, they know what students need, and they’ll go against department to help students.Herrera: Oh, absolutely. And I think the departments would have it that way. They want students to succeed. Cortez: And I’m not blasting the math department. I know I’m being very biased towards the students. Herrera: Hey, that’s what you’re here for.Cortez: At some point it’s up to the students. Students have the responsibility; I’m never going to take that away. We also talked to Dr. Arenaz about professional school acceptance rates. [With] medical school, we’ve done pretty good. I’d have to check on the numbers, but we’ve had something like ten or twelve students accepted into medical school from 2007-2008. From the biology department, our average MCAT score has increased. We’re hoping that our pre-law friends can keep up. Students need to come out of here competitive. We want our students to be successful. That’s my mission as well. I’m trying to take care of that any way that I can.