Gallaudet Faces a Catch-22?

The information in today's Washington Post article "A Conflict on Integity Surfaces: Gallaudet is Roiled by Charges that Academic Standards Have Been Compromised" contains information that is not new to those of us who have been following deaf blogs. The paragraph that got to me the most:

"There are some students who cannot multiply 4 x 4 and come up with 16 without a calculator," and others who cannot read English well enough to comprehend a basic news story, faculty members reported to the board last year.

We already knew about the low graduation rate. We already knew that many Gallaudet students arrived at school ill-prepared for college-level work. What stunned me about this paragraph is that I did not know it was THAT bad. How in the world can students who can't multiply 4x4 in their heads or read a basic newspaper article, be expected to handle college-level work? They can't.

As the article reports, Gallaudet faces a dual challenge: get enough warm bodies in seats AND also educate these ill-prepared warm bodies. It is a catch-22. If Gallaudet raises academic standards, it risks not being able to get enough warm bodies because today's deaf/hoh students with adequate skills, have so many other options educationally. If Gallaudet lowers academic standards in order to admit enough students to meet enrollment goals, Gallaudet puts its own reputation at risk.

If the horror stories I heard today from an interpreter are any indication, Gallaudet's reputation is ALREADY suffering! Today an interpreter told me the following tales:

1) a deaf Gallaudet student intern who majored in computers, was unable to open up Microsoft Word to type, on the job. The employer was so distressed that the employer swore to never again hire a Gallaudet student intern.
2) another Gallaudet graduate with limited skills was found to have falsified an academic transcript by putting their name on someone else's transcript.
3) another employer found themselves with a poorly-skilled intern from Gallaudet. This employer could have rejected the student, but fortunately the employer had previous experience with higher-skilled deaf employees, and was able to be patient with the deaf student. However, as the interpreter remarked, if this had been the employer's first encounter with a deaf person...

Gallaudet's alumni need to be really involved in the effort to "fix" Gallaudet because the alumni's careers may suffer if Gallaudet's reputation does not improve. I am thankful that I already have a job, because as more and more prospective employers become aware of the quality of Gallaudet's students as described above by the interpreter, it could become harder for alumni to find jobs even if they have been employed for awhile.

On my way home from work, I had a cyber-chat with a parent of a learning disabled Gallaudet student who explained Gallaudet's remedial program to me. I started the conversation by asking the parent what they thought of the article in the Post. The parent thought that the students described in the paragraph quoted above, had learning disabilities. The parent also wondered if Gallaudet was evaluating students differently from the way they were being evaluated in high school. According to this parent, Gallaudet uses a special test called the Compass test. The Compass ESL test, given by ACT, is used to rate students in English and math.

There is no information on Gallaudet's website about their remedial program. The parent told me that if you do not pass the remedial courses within two years, you are kicked out of Gallaudet. The remedial program consists of the following courses, which do not count towards graduation: ALT (Applied Literacy) courses, and MAT (Math) 011, 012, and 013. The course descriptions are available in the undergraduate catalog. Students in these courses must pass BOTH the courses AND the Compass test to become full-fledged Gallaudet students.

I asked the parent where their child would go if the child did not successfully complete the remedial program. The parent said they hoped their child would succeed because there was "no place else." For ill-prepared students, Gallaudet may be their only hope for a college degree to help them compete in a modern job marketplace that demands at least a bachelor's degree for most professional jobs.

During the protest, Fernandes had remarked that she wanted those ill-prepared students to attend community colleges before coming to Gallaudet. One problem with that idea - if these ill-prepared students did not develop enough skills when they were mainstreamed, in a deaf center program, or in a deaf school, how can they be expected to learn those missing skills in a community college program with interpreters?

Former candidate Ron Stern had said he wanted to focus on strengthening the educational programs that Gallaudet's students were coming from, instead of rejecting unprepared students outright. Did Stern have the right idea? Or should Gallaudet be focusing on bringing unprepared warm bodies up to speed? As one commenter on MishkaZena's site put it, should Gallaudet officially re-establish a preparatory program? It would just be a re-named remedial program, with some extra features. It would probably cost $$, but the cost to Gallaudet if they don't set up a new prep program, could be far greater.