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By Diego Higuera
America is facing another pandemic—one that impacts half its student population.
High school and college students struggle to read.
Reading – the foundation of learning and critical thinking – is a skill too many Southwestern College students do not do well.
It is a national problem complicated in the borderlands by a polylingual population and a large number of immigrant students for whom English is not their first language. These students can learn to read but may have fallen behind due to their life circumstances, said Southwestern College Professor of Reading Dr. Sylvia Garcia Navarrete.
Research by the ACT Center for Impact and Learning concludes that half of America’s high school graduates do not read at college level. In San Diego County individual school districts are generally within about 5 percent of that mean. About 54 percent of San Diego Unified students meet reading standards, and the Sweetwater Union High School District claims about 50 percent (although the data usually does not include dropouts). While this is near the state average, it also means at least 100,000 local college-age teenage students are not reading at grade level.
Local reading and literacy experts say this places tremendous pressure on Southwestern College, which inherits the job of helping low-level readers to catch up or at least gain competency. Antonio Alarcon, Dean of the School of Language and Literature, said reading data is discouraging but it remains the duty of community colleges to help elevate every student. Universities and private institutions can screen students for reading, writing and math skills before deciding whether to admit them, but Southwestern cannot. In fact, the California Legislature cut off all funding for remedial classes last year, placing unprepared students straight into college-level classes. And, unlike universities, Southwestern has to admit everyone who enrolls. Since Sweetwater closed down its adult schools, SWC is the region’s last chance for members of the community with poor literacy skills.
“We are open access so it’s critical for us to be ready for whomever walks through the door,” said Alarcon. “We know that educational institutions are underfunded, so that adds to the challenge.”
Alarcon said his school was compelled to follow a new state law and eliminate remedial reading classes that do not count for transfer. All enrolled students are allowed to register for college-level English 115 regardless of their high school experiences or test scores.
“It’s on us to support those students,” he said.
Another problem, Alarcon said, are students who are encouraged to use college resources like tutoring and options in the Academic Success Center but will not do it. College research shows that students who take the time to invest in themselves with tutoring or other academic coaching receive great benefits and growth. Garcia said it is a case of leading the horse to water, but the pony will not drink. Alarcon said faculty and academic leaders are working on the problem.
“So it’s on us to make sure that the students who aren’t going to the Academic Success Center to get tutoring or the Writing Center or taking English 115-plus classes where there is dedicated support will reconsider and do so,” he said.
Reading is imperative because it forms connections in the brain that develop critical thinking and empathy, said Garcia. Reading is also essential for people to fully access their society’s culture and its economic opportunities. Alarcon agreed.
“We all encounter some form of literature daily,” he said. “It’s in (reading and literature) classes (that) we’re supporting active development of critical thinking and applying it. We (aspire) to help folks see connections. Social media, news outlets, film and music can all (serve as) some form of literature.”
COVID setbacks remain the “elephant in the room,” said Professor of Political Science Alma Aguilar.
“Students are struggling with reading now more than ever,” she said. “(COVID) forced (K-12) teachers to adapt very, very quickly. Reading levels are below average and I think that’s a direct effect of the pandemic. Teachers did their best under tough circumstances and students did their best, but damage happened.”
Aguilar said she is optimistic that test scores and reading levels will rebound, but schools need more resources and better funding.
“Rolling along the way we are is not an option,” she said.
English Professor Kayla Burner said it is difficult to determine which students are “college ready” and which are not, and whether that is even a helpful topic of discussion. Burner runs the Writing Center in the Academic Success Center which she said helps students become “skilled, confident writers.” She said she worries about educators becoming “deficit minded” toward their students – focusing on what they cannot do rather than what they can.
“I think it is really important to give students materials they enjoy reading,” she said. “Learning can and should be fun.”
Burner said she is wary of standardized tests because they can be unintentionally discriminatory depending on a student’s native language and culture. She said most humans are gifted readers, but standardized tests tend to measure artificial constructs not found in the broader world. They also fail to accurately measure critical thinking. Literature ignites critical thinking, she said.
“If students can identify patriarchal ideology in literature, they can recognize it in their own lives,” she said. “We need more people who can critically analyze the world around them.”
Language acquisition expert April Baker-Bell’s “White Mainstream English” is a seminal book on linguistic justice. Baker-Bell said some people in the United States grow up with access to “mainstream” English, but many do not.
“In essence, these students are reading a foreign language, even if they spoke English at home, because there are many (forms of) English,” she said. “(Standardized) tests are prioritizing and privileging one dominant (form of) English.”
Second grade teacher Joanna Baluyot is a self-described “student of reading.” She said it makes her sad to know that so many 12th grade students struggle. She also blamed COVID. Students who entered COVID as freshman left it as adults, she said.
“It’s clear that the pandemic really impacted a lot of students’ emotional learning, social learning and academic learning,” she said. “Everything ground to a halt because you can only keep a student’s attention on a computer for so long.”
Even the wind down of the pandemic did not restore the pre-COVID culture of learning for all American students.
“Some students’ families were just so uncomfortable with the idea of bringing the kids back to school,” she said. “I firmly believe it’s important for students to be in a school setting because that is where they learn how to communicate with other people.”
Baluyot said COVID and the post-pandemic hand wringing have damaged many students’ ability to solve problems independently. Students more frequently give up and ask teachers, parents or siblings for help rather than persevere. Too many often expect others to do tasks for them if they get frustrated, she said.
“I’m trying to teach them independence, but they’re just not letting go of that dependence,” she said. “There’s a big role of learned helplessness, where kids learn not to do certain things because they know someone else will do it for them.”
Reading and writing suffer in this culture, she said, and educators may lower standards – consciencely or otherwise. The best hope, she said, is a smart, caring teacher – a sentiment long backed by empirical research.
“There’s always that one teacher willing to go above and beyond,” she said. “They stay hours after school to make sure students are successful. When I was in high school and going through a really rough time, I had a teacher who pulled me out of that. She helped me then and to this day.”
Parents are also teachers, possibly the most important teachers of all, said Garcia. South County students often have parents who work long hours, battle exhaustion and face social stressors, including poverty. Too often, something has to give and the child ends up the loser. Southwestern College students tend to concentrate on this end of the spectrum.
College professors may be their
last hope.
