University’s senate scraps math requirement
Science professors worry about admission changes
TESSA VANDERHART STAFF
Changes to the university’s admission policy will mean that students can, in theory, enroll in University One without taking any Senior 4 math credits.
The policy was passed at the Dec. 7 meeting of the university’s senate. The changes were touted in senate as reducing the confusing admissions process, streamlining the different admissions options.
Director of enrolment Peter Dueck said that while it appears that students can enroll without senior-level mathematics, the concerns are vastly overblown.
“It’s simply not true that we’re allowing students to enter science without math,” said Dueck. “Nothing has changed here; it’s hard to know exactly why people would be upset about that,” he said.
Dueck also noted that few students are admitted to university without the language requirement, so he does not expect many to enter without math — except perhaps students from Northern Ontario, as that province does not require Senior 4 math for matriculation.
Philip Hultin, a professor in the department of Chemistry, was one of the most vocal critics of the senate decision. He said that he is concerned about the direction the university is taking because it represents an important pedagogical choice but is based only on meeting the needs of the new Aurora computer system.
Along with the changes to admission policy, the senate decision removed the restriction most faculties place on voluntary withdrawals (VWs).
Hultin expressed concern that changes to admissions and VW policy should not be based on the new computer system. Aurora, set to be implemented this fall, cannot keep track of courses marked as voluntary withdrawals.
“[The changes were made] not because of any reasoned debate, but because the computer can’t keep track of it . . . . [We should] not do it because of the shortcoming of the computer system,” he said.
Although the senate decision is, to Hultin, “the tail wagging the dog,” there was little choice in senate to vote against it: the university has already begun the implementation of the new computer system.
Hultin said that abandoning the math requirement is more of a philosophical issue for the university: the vast majority of students will still require a math credit to graduate from high school, but the fact that the university no longer requires it sends the message that math is no longer valued.
“I think the university should be setting the highest educational standards,” he said.
He added that in an increasingly technological society, math is more than a vocational necessity.
“Well-rounded, fully functional citizens of the country and of the world” need math as part of liberal arts education, he said.
The vast majority of students admitted to the university enter the faculty of University One. After completing between 24 and 54 credits, students are then guaranteed admission to either the Faculty of Arts or Science.
At Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, students also enter first into a general year; but at Memorial, the math requirement is staying. According to Hultin, this will leave Memorial as the last university with a universal math requirement.
In the senate meeting, Dean of Science Mark Whitmore noted that Simon Fraser University is currently moving in the opposite direction, making math an entrance requirement for all programs.
Currently, all students graduating from the U of M must fulfil an ‘M’ requirement, but Hultin expressed concerns that this too could be removed as a result of the computer system.
A motion by Whitmore in the senate meeting to consider an alternate system of admission into Science was defeated.
Dueck noted that the only Science degree that can now be acquired without Senior 4 math is an honours degree in Psychology.
Christine Blais, the director of University One, said that she is not concerned that the changed requirements will negatively affect the quality of students entering the university.
Rather, she said, the decision was made because the university “didn’t feel it was a level playing field.” By loosening the requirements, University One should become more accessible to students whose high schools offer fewer options in math and English.
She said that most students will come in with the same level of math literacy. Because of the changed requirements, rather than fitting in to one of four admission categories, students will be admitted on one list of prerequisites. Most importantly, students can expect to be admitted with a valid diploma from any Manitoba high school.
“Why do you need calculus to study history?” she asked.
What you now need
for admission to
University One:
Option 1 (most students):
- diploma from a Manitoba high school
- five full Senior 4 credits
- 70 per cent average in three S (special)-level courses or U (university)- coded credits
- one Senior 4 English (or Français!) credit
Option 2:
- provisional enrolment for
students with an average
between 63 and 69 per cent.
Option 3:
- provisional enrolment for students with no Senior 4 credit in either official language
-requires a 70 per cent average in at least three S or U credits
