Just  a little post before going back to look at remedial courses in "high education".

A student in my 2nd year statistics course scored a 100 on the third test of the semester; this was a bit of a surprise, since he failed the first two tests. I give a test about once a month during the semester.

I asked him what changed, and he gave an answer I've heard many times before: "I studied today". One day. I've had students literally rip me a new one because they studied for two hours, and still didn't do well on a test. I've been "nudged" by admin to lower my standards to the point that a student need only pass one test to probably pass the course, so he's golden now.

This is what college rigor is now: study for a day, and you can master a full month of what is now college material (far less than what I covered in the 90s).

Hmm, a semester of material for a course can be mastered by a student that simply tries for a single day. A student takes maybe 4 courses a semester. 32 days of study for a "year of college".

So, a 4 year degree now safely represents about 4 months of effort. It's probably better than that, since a student has less opportunity to forget than in the 4 year degree (which takes 6 years for most students, anyway).

I've often heard it said public school takes so long to cover so little, in order to delay entry into the workforce. Is it the same for higher eduation? It sure looks like it.