UM first-year retention

As a retired faculty member of the University of Maine, I’d like to comment on the front-page article titled, “UM eyes options to retain students” (BDN, Feb. 28). Improving UM student advising, as the Faculty Senate proposes, will no doubt do some good, but its effect on the retention rate of first-year students is likely to be minimal.

Like similar colleges and universities nationwide, the University of Maine competes for sorely needed tuition dollars by admitting large numbers of students who, despite their high school credentials, are woefully unprepared academically for college-level work. We’re talking about students whose language skills are so poor that they cannot write a paragraph of coherent English and whose mathematical skills are so weak that they cannot handle the simple arithmetic of fractions and decimals.

So long as present admission policies continue and the faculty conscientiously resist the temptation to “dumb down” first-year classes, the UMaine dropout rate is likely to remain around 20 percent.

Phil Locke

Bangor