Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnyB
It is lowering the bar but lowering the bar and improving program quality can, ironically, go hand in hand.
|
This is very true. In fact, if you lower the bar, you almost always have to improve program quality as you can't count on students being smart enough to fill in the gaps.
However, if you lower the bar, you make your university less attractive to the best students. This is fine if you wish to instead focus on doing the best job for those who need more help, but if your goal is to try drag lower performing ethnic groups up, it almost never works.
Some of the major high end colleges and universities in the US have to deal with this. Their students that join to meet their quotas often struggle from year to year, never really getting the concepts all that well. When they graduate, they continue to struggle since they never got the level of understanding they need.. On the other hand, comparable students that go to universities and colleges tailored to their intellect level, thrive after graduation.