Siobhan Curious is asking students what they’d like to change about college. Get rid of Pell Grants, writes Aewl, an online community college student who works as a carpenter for a school district. Aewl quit college 28 years ago after a single hard-partying semester.
If I could change just one thing about college, it would be to get rid of Pell Grants. . . . By making college affordable to many people that years ago would not have been able to go to college, it basically makes it an extension to High School. There are quite a few people that if they had to work to pay for their college would not go. These are the same students that do poorly in college and really have no business being in college. Colleges are obligated to try to teach students that are not prepared and are also under pressure to show decent graduation rates. To achieve this, they have to hire more faculty member to teach remedial courses and also to lower the bar of expectation. There is a real danger of grade inflation going on throughout the nation. Today an “A” doesn’t mean near as much as it did a few decades back.
As I do the work for my classes, I have an incentive to do well which has only come from years of working hard and learning from life’s experiences. Unfortunately, even though I do well in my classes, due to grade inflation, it is not seen as much of a big deal as it used to be.
Twenty-eight years ago, colleges didn’t offer a wide array of remedial classes, Aewl recalls. These days, the government subsidizes remedial classes for unprepared students, sucking up resources that could go to students who are prepared for college work.
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at 6:46 am
[...] after 28 years — and surprised by all the remedial classes — a carpenter calls for cutting Pell Grants for low-income students. Community college has become “an extension to high school,” he [...]
at 12:24 pm
I disagree about limiting Pell grants to low-income students, if they are otherwise prepared. If they fall into the “maybe” range, then make them take the remedial classes at their own expense.
I was a low-income student, and college wouldn’t have been possible without Pell.
at 5:39 am
I agree. I went back to college after many years and was surprised at the lack of effort required to receive a high grade. I seem to remember having to work much harder for a C than I did for A’s I received when I returned.