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Our commenters angry but not shocked many Alabama high school grads need ...

More than a third of Alabama high school graduates who attend college in-state must take remedial courses in their freshman year because they cannot do college-level work, an analysis of new data from the Alabama Commission on Higher Education shows, Birmingham News writer Marie Leech reports.

The analysis by The Birmingham News found:

• 34.4 percent of 2010 high school graduates who went on to Alabama's public two- and four-year colleges had to take at least one remedial course to bring their English or math skills up:

• for 223 of Alabama's 357 high schools -- including 40 of the 66 high schools in the Birmingham metro area -- the percentages of graduates needing remedial help in college are even higher;

• and, the number swells to more than 50 percent in many of Alabama's urban and rural areas, and exceeds 70 percent in some schools.

This story struck a strong chord with the online community, leading many to share it and add comments including some strong debate over who shares the greatest blame. Read some of what people are saying:

• "This article is so true and I've seen it first hand. My "goddaughter" has been in college 2yrs and I've yet to see a course she's taking that wasn't remedial and this is from day one! I had to check her class schedule to see if it actually said JSU and not something else!" -- footbass

• " . . . Birmingham school Superintendent Craig Witherspoon was startled by the data he saw for all seven Birmingham high schools . . . "

"You might want to get out to visit some of your senior students, Craig.... Don't ask them to do the tricky things like reading and/or writing above a fifth grade level - just see if you can find an intelligent conversation.

"And, Good Luck." -- sanlot

• "Part of the problem is that everyone thinks that an academic college degree is for everyone...it's not! Many of these kids do not have the academic skills, interest level nor even aptitude for a four-year degree. Many of them would be much better served pursuing a two-year career technical degree. What many people don't realize is that an electrician can earn more than a teacher. We don't promote career tech enough and parents push kids into college when they often are not really serious enough about their studies to be successful in the first place.

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