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6/19/08
Dear Hoobit,
I hadn't realized that your son had gone to a junior college before his 4-year college. (If you have already told us this, sorry I missed it.) You mention that his was a private/independent college, and I'm realizing more and more that that can make a night-and-day difference when trying to get personalized help. What course did your son end up choosing to replace math, if I may ask?

Your comments always cheer me up. Yes, I do think that the three-times-failed Elementary Algebra course should give the colleges' heads of department at least a faint inkling that something might be amiss in my relationship with algebra. And here is the real irony,... as hard as I've tried to learn algebra those three times, if I do re-take it and somehow pass on the 4th try (like maybe with a "D" or a "C"), this wouldn't mean that they would give me my diploma, it would only mean that (Whoopie!) I'd get to move on to the NEXT level of Developmental Math (DMAT0093). I would very likely fail at that level also, multiple times, before ever passing. And only then, after passing DMAT0093, would I qualify to enroll in College Algebra. In my case, I can't make the claim that I will never, EVER be able to learn algebra, because, with many times the effort and practice of my classmates, I do eventually begin to retain the process. It's just that the time and tranquility that I need are not available to me now.

So here's the tack that I'm planning to use. Write a letter and offer my copy of the transcript, with the three failed attempts, as my proof of a "good faith effort". Since they will be insisting on my re-taking the course with "accommodations", I'll make the analogy to how they would feel if they already had a professionally diagnosed disability, how many times would they be willing to 'crumple in a heap' before observers, in an effort to prove to them that they really do have a disability?

I'm glad you mentioned the science courses. The dean had only said that I'd be able to take Philosophy to replace math. I like logic, but I'm not interested in studying 'belief systems'. Geology and Biology are facinating. I make jewelry, so geology goes with that (for the pretty stones). Maybe I can make the argument that allowing me to take geology instead of philosophy can help me make a living -- which is true.
Thanks,
justfoundout