Summary: Colleges Need to Re-Mediate Remedation

Mike Rose wants other schools to change how their remediation classes are structured. His school has done so, and he uses Kevin's story as an example. Mike believes, instead of remedial classes teaching grammar in a basic form, that the classes should teach college level ideas and writing styles, and fix mistakes in class and on papers as they go. His program teaches cumulatively. In the beginning they teach summarization of articles so that later the students can go on to summarize and compare non fiction books. Mike doesn't think that cutting up grammar, style and organization lessons in to "workbook bits" helps the studetns learn in the context of a paper. They use an advanced subject when writing, so the students are prepared for the rest of their college classes.

"That is a huge point, and one that is tied to our core assumptions about cognition and language: Writing filled with grammatical errors does not preclude engagement with sophisticated intellectual material, and errors can be dealt with effectively as one works with such material," Mike Rose writes in the essay.