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> Making college free regardless of academic preparation (the article does not mention any) is a bad idea.

Where does it say that acceptance is guaranteed?


It can also act as an incentive for the student to do better if they know there’s actually a college program waiting for them.


Community colleges are included in the program.

This seems to be a part of a guaranteed jobs program. Wish we were moving to a basic income program but I'm convinced that we will need one or the other or some combination of the two. Jobs at a community college would be ideal to replace some of the early jobs that would be eliminated by AI.


I would assume a guaranteed job system (with a disability component) is a form of basic income.


As I understand it, faculty positions at community colleges usually require graduate degrees and tend to have many applicants for few slots.

I don't expect that community colleges will be greatly increasing their faculty sizes.


I see a variety of jobs: https://www.sjeccd.edu/district-services/human-resources/emp...

I think community colleges have been growing and this could continue the growth. It wouldn't seem like a huge change, but the alternative might be shrinking enrollments. The state government would feel the pressure to provide jobs, and this could help them, while doing some good for young people along the way.


My understanding is that the Fostering Futures program only affects tuition costs, not admission probability. Foster students will still need to work hard to get into the state schools that offer them free tuition.

If anything, this policy may (slightly) increase the average test scores at California state universities. Now that foster students can attend for free, it means there will be more applicants, and this means the universities can be more selective with who they admit.


Remedial classes help bring students up to speed without slowing down students who performed better in high school. It’s always been true that not every student who graduates High School received the same education as their peers who went to a different school. Being behind doesn’t not necessarily mean you’re bound for a doomed college experience.

Students grow up a lot during their college years, and part of that growing up is recognizing this is the time in your life to work hard because it may be your last opportunity to get a quality education.

The students that don’t take advantage of it will drop out, the students that do will have been given an opportunity they otherwise wouldn’t have. It’s all around a good thing to give students more opportunities and let them decide if it’s right for themselves.


>Across all racial and ethnic groups, only Asian students improved in average scores, from 24.5 points in 2018 to 24.7 in 2022. Black students’ composite scores fell from 16.8 to 16.1 points; Hispanic students from 18.8 to 17.7 points; and white students from 22.2 to 21.3 points during that time.

I wonder if there were any earth-shattering global-scale events in that time period that could be skewing the numbers? no, I can't think of any


Don't people with the lowest test scores benefit the most? If you already know everything, what's the point of going to school?


Not necessarily. At some level you run the risk of not being able to get through college at all. Accreditation requires courses to be conducted at a certain level. In fact as I understand it the correlation to success in college is how the standardized test companies originally sold themselves. My college math advisor was a consultant for one of those companies.

Now, I hope California has included community colleges and trade schools in this program, where some of those students might stand a better chance.

Also, the stuff tested by the tests is pretty remedial to begin with.


The test is to ensure you know enough to be able to get something out of college and not slow all of the other students down.

It’s not testing if you already know college materials.


The tests only cover high school level material, while colleges courses take that material as a prerequisite and build on top of it.


The common belief among all Harrison Bergeron referencers is that resources should be concentrated on those who need them the least, because those are the people who have shown merit.


That depends. Are the test scores because they don't care? Or are the scores reflective of someone without means?

On the former, probably not. They'll just suck up the oxygen in the room.

The latter? Sure, they could benefit immensely.




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