'Borderline' students?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Ok, this is a vent. :(

In school, we have to participate in a survey about predicted college success vs home support systems, class load, work hours, etc. This is to receive a grant, and those funds will be allocated to help 'borderline' students succeed.

Borderline students? As in the students who can't pull off a 75 on an exam if their lives depended on it? These are the students we want to try to help graduate and be out on the workforce? I think its wrong to relax the standards and help those less intellectually focused to pass the program knowing that they will never pass boards and, if they do sneak through, they'll be horribly unsafe nurses.

Its bad enough that the minimum score on the ACT is a 20. One of my friends in school is in the program, right beside me, and scored an 18. WTF? What is the point of having standards if everyone doesn't have to adhere to them?

But no, now they are seeking money to hire special tutors and create college success courses for the students who can't seem to pass.

What do you think? There are admission standards, ongoing standards, for a reason... to 'weed out' the people who can't make it. Why cater to them, make it easy for them to pass, knowing they'll never be successful? To collect more tuition dollars? Improve their numbers of graduating students? It certainly won't improve the nclex pass rate.

People say I'm too hard on others. Ok, whatever. I do not want to work beside a borderline student who can't figure out a simple dosage calculation or doesn't know the difference between DI and DM.

Grrrr!

Are you sure I'm not being judgmental? ;)

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Wouldn't you be the best judge of that? :D

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Not necessarily. I am in favor of honesty more than political correctness or nonjudgmental behavior, but that's just me.

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There are many students, with learning disabilities, in college. They are protected by the American Disabilities Act, and there are many programs in place to assist learning disabled students to succeed. Although certain modifications may be made for these students, I'm unsure if "lowering" the bar regarding ACT/SAT requirements is allowed.

There were students in my nursing class that I believed would never graduate -- some flunked, some withdrew, and a few barely passed. One of those students is now an RN in my facility -- ended up transferring a patient to her floor/care. She was absolutely outstanding -- assessment, clinical/critical-thinking skills -- everything. I would feel confident to let her care for my loved ones. I would never never have thought this in nursing school.

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Never Reb. ;) Inferior nurses = dead patients = manageable work loads for the rest of us. Sounds like a win-win situation for all. :rolleyes:

Seriously, if they can't meet the standards to be admitted, then tough ya-know.

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Damn. I thought we were gonna talk about personality disorders. :o

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We can talk about that, too. In fact I know several students personally who are borderline both academically and, uh, psychiatrically (and probably in a whole host of other areas).

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Originally posted by OBNURSEHEATHER

Damn. I thought we were gonna talk about personality disorders. :o

:chuckle I'm in!! (maybe we are) :chuckle

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I will comment on your point about Schools still accepting students who fall below the minimum standards or are "border line".

When I went through college the first time I was so gung-ho about becoming an educated and well rounded individual. Oh to enter the hallowed halls of Higher Education.

Now, the second time around I have taken off my rose colored glasses to see that at most schools students are really just little money signs walking around campus. I say MOST schools because I hope there are some schools out there that really are in the business of educating the student body.

Your professors and teachers and hopefully dean of your department are there to educate you but once you get higher up into administration you become a number that will bring a certain amount of money in every semester. Their concern is not whether or not you graduate, how well you do in your classes or how long it takes you to make it through their program, it's really about how much $$ you bring in each semester in tuition and fees and as you pointed out grants.

More and more schools are run as businesses, not centers for education. So, it is more profitable for them to alow lots of lee- way to keep students in the program. And as for the grant, yes that money may be applied to a specific program to assist borderline students but so many times when a school can say "we have this many students doing poorly" or "this much money in grants for this area" those numbers can get calculated and used to receive more grants and funds for other purposes.

I really hope I haven't offended anyone with my thoughts on that topic and like I said, I think and certainly hope there are schools out there that are solely concentrated on the success of their students but I honestly cannot say that about the two schools I have and am currently attending.

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That was one of my first thoughts, too, Colleen. I also thought that if they changed the rules, and didn't admit certain students after failing a number of times, they would cease to receive that money in tuition each semester.

I still believe that it does a disservice to the student. Its not good for your self-esteem to be kicked in the teeth so many times, and I can only imagine how difficult it will be for her to pass boards if/when she ever graduates. There should be a limit on the number of times a person can enroll, or there should be a personalized action plan for that student so that she can be successful. It shouldn't go on like this indefinitely.

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Hey you guys, I'm new with this site, so bear with me. I am a Nursing student at LSU, and I have ADHD and Dyslexia (believe me, not a good combination). Anyway, I am in the Students with Disabilities program; however, I must abide by exact same rules and regulations as all the other students do. I needed the same ACT score and the same GPA as everyone else to get in the program. I have to work my butt off just like everyone else, and the only help I get is a few extra minutes when taking certain tests. I personally do not want anything more. If everything were handed to me, I would never learn anything. But maybe thats just me...

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But, it makes your school look bad if you have all of these dropouts and flunkies. Can't a school lose accreditation for having poor results?

I agree with you Tiffany.

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