Community college isn’t meeting the needs of student the
I tried to sign my daughter up for multivariable calculus at Gavilan via the online registration program and ran into a virtual wall. It would seem that Gavilan is not offering Math 1C next semester.
My husband was philosophical about it. “She can take it in Salinas or at De Anza,” he said. “They probably don’t have very many students signing up for sophomore level math at Gav,” he said. “They can’t afford to offer a class that only a few students want to take,” said he.
I am not philosophical about the idea of my 17-year-old newbie driver daughter commuting to Hartnell, De Anza, Evergreen, San Jose State, or West Valley College next year. Besides, there is an excellent high-standards English instructor at Gavilan, Debbie Luoma. And there is a physics instructor, Richard Lee, who was absolutely brilliant at convincing our middle son, Oliver, to use units in his calculations.
So am I supposed to have our daughter drive 30 to 60 minutes for a math class and double-enroll here at Gavilan for English and physics? Or should she take everything elsewhere?
Mind, I can understand perfectly well why Gavilan offers a zillion sections of remedial math courses: pre-calculus, algebra, down to arithmetic. There is great demand in the Gilroy-Hollister area for remedial math classes. Our graduating high school students are not testing into Math 1A (calculus) in droves. Go figure.
But if Gavilan wants to attract and hold those students who are on the transfer track, it needs to offer a full first two years of college mathematics. That means multi and linear differential equations.
Very possibly there are too few students to fill a multi-variable calculus class. But if the class is not even listed online, not even scheduled, then we will never even find out how many students are interested. Failing to schedule the class ensures that there will not be one, and that serious students will look elsewhere for even their freshman classes.
This is a great way to construct a self-fulfilling prophecy, but a poor way to improve a college.
In other respects, Gavilan is great. Like many Gilroy residents, I have taken a smattering of classes there over the years: conversational Spanish, geography, C++ programming and ceramics.
My ceramics class with Jane Rekadal the last two semesters has been particularly delightful. I pretend to myself that I am taking it as part of my re-entry into the working world. I am doing something that is utterly new and foreign and strange. I am learning new skills. I am relearning how to learn.
Those are all just excuses. The fact is, I love messing around in the mud and making stuff: mixing bowls, mugs, boxes, flower pots. I am having fun and talking with nice people.
I drive back home to teach trig to my homeschooled students with smears of clay across my face. My students are polite about it. They ignore the clay and concentrate on the remainder theorem.
Some of my trig students are ready for first semester calculus at Gavilan next year. What are they going to do the year after? Commute to Cupertino or Salinas?
Our two eldest sons transferred from Gavilan to four-year universities with 62 and 47 units respectively. Our eldest graduated last year, our middle is graduating next week. Gavilan is an adequate stepping stone to higher education.
Adequate, but not excellent. It does not yet offer the full two years of math that engineering, physics, chemistry, and mathematics majors need to stay on track. We are a bedroom community for Silicon Valley, yet we cannot provide sophomore math to a technical major.
It is time that Gavilan admitted that in addition to our large population of students who need substantial remediation, we have a population of students who need a full two years of college solids.
We have, everyone is fond of saying, a diverse population. Well, some of that diverse population is bright and motivated. It is time, and past time, to offer them the education they need. This year, they need multi and linear diff eq’s. Next year, E-lab.
Cynthia Anne Walker is a homeschooling mother of three and former engineer. She is a published independent author. Her column is published in The Dispatch every week.
