Letter to the Editor

 Dear Editor,

   I am a 51-year-old student in the aviation technology department since August 1997. I have just read the editorial on TASP in the Dec. 5 issue of The Collegian.

   The author must have spoken to me in his or her dreams. I have taken the math portion of the TASP every semester since I have been attending classes here. Do the “math” to figure out how many times it has been. Every time I have to take this test, I have to pay the state of Texas $29 for something I know, all too well, I will not pass.

   When I went to high school back in the ’60s, they gave you a choice of what diploma you wished to receive at the end of your four years of study. The academic diploma required courses in all this math. The commercial diploma, which I chose, required courses in secretarial studies and bookkeeping. The general diploma had no math at all. Little did I realize that this choice would bite me in the butt 34 years later.

   To obtain the mechanics license I am studying for, I have had to take remedial math classes, or the math lab for one hour a week because I have not passed the math portion of TASP. None of this did me any good; tutoring, etc., will never get me to understand any of it, and as the article said, I will never have to use this in the future, nor have I had to use it in the past. Obviously, the state and TCC officials do not care; they have rules to follow, they say. Thank God, I am in my last semester and have given up on getting my associate’s degree at this time because of TASP.

   As far as I am concerned, the state of Texas and TCC have denied me the privilege and right to obtain my associate’s degree because I cannot pass the math portion of TASP. I would probably have to stay until “doomsday” before that happens. Shame on this institution and the state!!

   The last sentence of the article is right on when it says the Taliban would have made excellent use of TASP as a means to control people. This is exactly what TASP does, and I am sure there are more students out there who have this similar problem, but have not spoken out yet.

   I have been trying to tell the administrator all these years that all this does is waste my time and money because I cannot pass, but to no avail. If more people spoke out and petitions were signed, maybe TASP will go back to the status of what it was first designed to accomplish.

   Eleanor DiGregorio
   Aviation Technology