A recent survey shows that even after four years of high school math and english classes, many university students are unprepared for college-level education.

The faculty survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute, a Los Angeles based research program that examines and evaluates post secondary education and research training, found that 40 percent of professors consider their students to be lacking the proper preparation and skills for satisfactory performance in class.

The study's findings do not surprise Karen Kingsbury, director of new student programs and retention. She estimated that over half of the 3,200 first time freshman attending SF State this year are enrolled in remedial english and/or math classes.

“I would say it’s fairly common to hear instructors bemoan the fact that their students aren’t the articulate writers that they would like them to be,” said Kingsbury.

The California State University Fall 2004 Proficiency Report found that 51.3 percent of first time freshmen were proficient in English, while 56.5 percent were proficient in mathematics.

Kingsbury is not placing the entire responsibility of non-proficient students on high schools, saying that some students simply do not perform well on tests.

“A lot of students feel that they’re not good testers,” said Kingsbury. “Our students have very busy lives and these kind of challenges can affect their studies and sometimes that's the reason they’re not able to pass.”

Deborah VanDommelen, director of the Learning Assistance Center at SF State, stresses that some students may not have had the proper role models to facilitate their studies or were not given the right opportunities to enhance their education.

“They may have been under the misconception that they are prepared and that’s not to say that students who got ‘As’ and ‘Bs’ in certain situations may have been prepared,” said VanDommelen. “Students are getting mixed messages and it may take them a whole semester to catch up, and they realize that they aren’t prepared as they thought they were and that’s a hard thing to cope with.”

Lizzy Birnbaum, 18, is in her first year at SF State and enrolled in an intro to college writing class. Her high school academic performance was more than average, and she excelled with straight ‘As’ during her senior year, but she was not that shocked by her placement test results.

“In high school everything is given to you, but here you have to pick up a text book, learn everything on your own,” she said.

Professor Mark Spinrad comments that it is rare for first-time college students to be at a college writing level and that most students still have a lot of work ahead of them.

"College is a new world with new conventions and expectations and vocabulary," said Spinrad. "Learning to write at a college level takes time because it really is akin to second language acquisition."

Whether students are in his remedial english class as a requirement or for enrichment, Spinrad feels guilty for those who put in the effort but are still unable to pass his class, but he knows that it would be a it would be a disservice to pass them.

"Students very rarely get how useful writing is," said Spinrad. "For most college students, writing equals demonstrating what you know about something, i.e. regurgitating facts and figures on a paper/in-class essay, which is such a myopic, simplistic understanding."

Students who are still battling to pass their remedial classes may utilize the tutoring services provided by the university, in which 25 percent of the students seeking help at the Learning Assistance Center are in remedial classes.

“We try to be aware of the different factors and situations students may have so that we can be open to respond to the different opportunities we can offer them,” said VanDommelen.