Power of 1 plus 200 = UVSC problem
By Marion Crawford NewsNet Staff Reporter

The BYU Newsnet, UT (Brigham Young University)
Sept 10 2004

Some students at Utah Valley State College think the math department
doesn’t add up, and that could equal trouble if the petition they
have signed reaches the Legislature.

Two hundred students have signed a petition requesting the Utah
Legislature to “defend our interests as tax and tuition payers…and
to reconsider the make up of the staff of the mathematics department
at UVSC.”

The petition was initiated by Marina Nelson, pre-nursing major at UVSC
and a native Armenian, who maintains a 4.0 GPA and already carries
a bachelor’s degree from a university in Armenia. But Nelson said
she decided to take the drive to Salt Lake Community College last
semester for the state accredited Math 1050 course, college algebra,
out of fear that she could fail it at UVSC.

“A lot of kids are afraid to take Math 1050 at UVSC because of its
reputation,” Nelson said.

She liked her teacher at SLCC because he had a teaching method and
wasn’t just a mathematician.

“He explains terms in the way I understand,” she said. “If you have
a question he will go through the details and sit down with you and
help you.”

UVSC’s Math 1010, intermediate algebra, is the second most failed
class at UVSC, according to UVSC’s Institutional Research Office,
cited in UVSC’s newspaper, The College Times. Math 1050, BYU’s Math
110 college algebra equivalent, came in sixth.

“Math 1050 is a statewide issue,” Teddi Safman, Assistant Commissioner
of Academic Affairs for the State Board of Regents said. “We will be
meeting next month to discuss it.”

UVSC’s Dean of Science and Health Sam Rushforth said that he feels
the statistics reflect there is a math problem across the United
States and in no way reflect the competency of his faculty.

“Some of our students come here and haven’t had any math since they
were sophomores in high school,” he said. “You have to go back and
do a remedial course or work with a tutor before you take an upper
level math course.”

BYU students have better success rates in BYU’s Math 110 because
most have taken its equivalent in high school, said Lynn Garner,
department chair of mathematics at BYU.

“Most students who come to BYU have already had 110 and take it as
a refresher course,” Garner said. “But the rigors of the course are
definite and a student who doesn’t bring a lot of skill from high
school is going to struggle. I hope the [UVSC] students are successful
in their petition in uncovering the true cause of the problem, which
I think is a lack of student preparation more than anything else.”

Math 1050 isn’t meant to be a gatekeeper course set-up to make people
fail or weed people out, Rushforth said.

“You could go to any college campus in the United States… [with]
a petition that says, ‘college algebra sucks’ and every other student
would sign it,” Rushforth said.

UVSC offers self-help labs, math tutorial labs and programs for
remedial math students, Rushforth said.

Rushforth also said that he is taking part in three task forces to
look specifically at Math 1050, concurrent enrollment in college
classes, and some adult education classes, which could be taught at
high school campuses.

“I would like to tell the math department at UVSC to hold the line,
hold the standard, and try to educate the high schools that they make
sure their students are better prepared when they leave,” Garner said.

Nelson said she is waiting to get an appointment time with the
Legislature between Sept. 22 to 25.