The Higher Education: Living Productively and Critically Summary: From 2010 to 2015, I taught remedial reading and individual studies courses at Hudson Valley Community College. Despite efforts, the program struggled with low graduation rates, challenging student behavior, and inadequate support for learning disabilities. I question the effectiveness of remedial programs and the overall impact of community college on student success. * Work Experience: I was an instructor at Hudson Valley Community College from 2010 to 2015, teaching remedial reading and individual studies courses. * Program Evaluation: The Individual Studies Program, aimed at enhancing student performance, seemed ineffective based on personal observations and graduation rate comparisons. * Program Replacement: The Individual Studies Program was replaced by the Graduation, Achievement and Placement (GAP) Program, which focuses on academic support and accelerating graduation rates. * Student Performance: Many students lacked the ability to succeed in remedial courses, raising questions about their suitability for community college. * Learning Disabilities Support: The learning disabilities program was inadequate, with substandard help and limited resources. * Attendance and Grading: Poor attendance and a system that allowed for passing students despite frequent absences made grading a challenge. * Remedial Education Funding: Former Governor Andrew Cuomo was rumored to not be a strong supporter of remedial college programs. * Community College Graduation Rates: Graduation rates are low, with only 22% graduating within three years and 28% within four years. * College Expenses: States spend $133 billion on college daily operations and infrastructure, the federal government spends $82 billion on financial aid and research, and students and families pay an average of $34,019 per year. Every fall semester, from 2010 through 2015, I drove the relatively quiet highways and side roads from the Berkshires to the southern tip of Troy, New York. I worked as an instructor in the Individual Studies Program at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. I taught two courses during those semesters, a remedial reading course and an individual studies course. The former was a non-credit course and the latter was a three-credit course. Some students took both courses. Matriculating in the remedial program at Hudson Valley depended on the three entrance exams a student took in reading, writing, and math. Although I have major credits in literature and am a practicing journalist, I was only allowed to teach the two courses noted above using a master’s degree in reading. I looked at the status of the Individual Studies Program at Hudson Valley Community College and was not surprised that it no longer existed and had been replaced by the Graduation, Achievement and Placement (GAP) Program, which appeared to be more of an academic support program for traditional community college courses. The program’s goals were twofold: accelerated student graduation rates and academic support. When I look back at the six fall semesters I spent at Hudson Valley, it seems as if the program I was involved in, along with two full-time staff, and several part-time staff members like myself, achieved next to nothing in enhancing student performance. Several years ago I wrote an article comparing several community college graduation rates during my tenure at Hudson Valley and the results I saw in the classroom reflected the equally abysmal graduation rates of the schools I studied, with the vast majority of students failing to graduate. My personal classroom experiences were remarkable in many ways. There was a coterie of students who did not have the ability to succeed in the remedial course I taught. If a student could not succeed in a remedial college course, then the question must be asked about whether or not that student belonged in a community college. There were a high number of students whose behavior (I also have a graduate degree in counseling) was so aberrant and abusive that success in a community college classroom was not possible. There were some students with learning disabilities, and the help they received was substandard. The learning disabilities program seemed helter-skelter to me and it appeared as a learning assistance program of meager resources and personnel. There was an academic coaching system in place, much like is mentioned in today’s GAP program, but out of hundreds of students, not a single student actually received that coaching assistance. Attendance in classes was laughable. I had students who cut classes for weeks at a time and returned a week or so before the semester’s end inquiring if they could pass the course. At each semester’s end, my wife and I sat with my mark book attempting to develop multiple sliding scales to enter enough assignments and quiz scores to pass students. Passing students became a laughable exercise in attempting to make sense of a nonsensical system. Returning to the independent study course, there were a handful of students, perhaps two or three in each section, who could actually complete college-level work and did go on to other college programs. During the time I taught the remedial courses, a rumor was that the then-governor, Andrew Cuomo, was not a strong supporter of remedial college programs. From my experience and point of view, if in fact that was true, the former governor seemed to be a more balanced footing than those who worked in and administered remedial community college programs (“As Cuomo proposal rekindles free college movement, new research provides ammunition for skeptics,” Brookings Institution, January 19, 2017). I use this citation because it was concurrent with my work at Hudson Valley Community College. In “The Catch-22 of Community College Graduation Rates,” (Community College Review, August 19, 2026), the article notes that “Within three years, approximately 22 percent of students graduate, within four years, the rate stands at 28 percent.” The two year figure is 13 percent. These figures don’t reflect the complex lives of community college students, whether or not their college lives were interrupted, and the effects of the economy on whether or not students graduate. It, the reporting, also does not assess the impact of poverty on community college attendance and graduation rates. According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, states spend $133 billion on college daily operations and infrastructure, while the federal government spends $82 billion of financial aid, grants, and scientific research. The lender Sallie Mae notes that students and families pay “an average of $34,019 per year on college.” The latter is extremely low given the escalating costs of a college or university education. Thank you for subscribing. Share this episode.
