For Want of a Nail

Page 1 of the January 16-17, 2010 Iron Mountain
Daily News has an article entitled "Community
colleges soar; Bay West no exception."

The article points out that, "One of the greatest
challenges is the graduation rates at Michigan
community colleges. This is primarily because
too many students arrive without basic math and
reading skills. Bay College is focused on this
and has received federal grant money to support
such areas."

I know this is an old problem, and a national
one, not purely a local UP problem. About 1973,
while I was still living on the east coast, I
undertook a job of teaching at Trenton Technical
Institute in Trenton, NJ, for a brief period. I
had a class of 8 students, primarily Vietnam
veterans who had an interest in bettering
themselves by learning what at that time was
about computers.

Please bear in mind that this was well before
the advent of small personal computers of the
sort you're undoubtedly using to read this text.
Computers, back then, were at the least in large
floor model cabinets called racks, and the
operator hadn't an inkling, usually, of what
was on all those punch cards they fed into the
infernal machine. Computer operator was a simple
clerical job. Programmer was separate, as it is
today. What these fellows in my class were there
to learn was how computers worked with an eye to
maintenance.

At the most elementary level, computers utilize
what is known as Boolean algebra, also known
as Boolean logic. The building blocks for that
are known in the computer biz as gates with names
like AND, OR, NAND, NOR. AND, for example, can
have 2 or more inputs of a high or low state. In
order to get a high state output from an AND gate,
all the inputs must be high.

What I discovered for my class was that not one of
them was able to perform 6th grade arithmetic out
of the workbook my daughter was using in school at
that time. Beyond that, the students weren't very
good at ordinary reading either. Never did any of
these students come to class carrying a newspaper,
or any reading materials other than those required
for class.

How was I supposed to teach these young men, all
in their 20's, to understand elementary electronics,
gates, and logic so they could have at least a
handshake acquaintance with the equipment they said
they wanted to work with? This stuff was nothing
like changing a tire on a car.

And that's the point. Not everyone is destined to
greatness. Not everyone should attend college, no
matter what the dreams and hopes of their parents.
Some people need to stick to changing tires. They're
good at it and it is an honorable job.

My father undertook to teach a neighbor elementary
algebra, something the adult man desired.

A=16 solve 3A=?

The neighbor, after several hours of effort, was
unable to solve this caliber of problem. He was a
perfectly nice man with a home, wife, one child,
and a good job. But he had achieved the highest
level to which he was destined and was unable in
his lifetime to achieve more. There's no dishonor
or disgrace in that. In fact he took pride in his
achievements, as well he should have.

That's the point of this discussion. If everyone
were able to be a rocket scientist we'd have plenty
of those around. There's a reason we don't.

So the trick is to explore one's limits, bump into
them, and do the absolute best one can with such
gifts as your creator has seen fit to bless you
with. Back to Bay College, my question is a simple
one. Why do we need federal grants so that
individuals can learn, in their 20's, how to do the
things we paid for in the 12 years of educational
opportunities already extended to everyone in this
country? If kids are blowing off opportunities for
12 years, why are we, in this time of massive
unemployment, paying for one more time around on
this issue?

We have, in the Iron River community, some individuals
who give their time freely to help those who haven't
learned to read, to read, if they possibly can. In my
experience, such volunteerism works much better than
any government funded initiative where the individual
can "fall through the cracks" again as they managed to
do for 12 years already. I applaud this charitable act
and suggest that if young people want to attend college,
community college or otherwise, that they be required
to come equipped to deal with the necessities. They
should be required to read, write, and do arithmetic,
on at least the 7th grade level before they're
admitted to any college level courses.

College should not be an extended High School. It is
a place for advanced studies, not a repeat of what
went before.

Bill Vajk