District Weighs Tougher English Classes at College

English classes at Moorpark College could be a lot tougher starting next fall if officials approve a plan to beef up the college’s curriculum to meet stringent admission requirements at UC Berkeley.

The move to toughen standards comes in response to the university’s recent decision to reject Moorpark students, ruling that their English classes were inadequate for admission into Berkeley’s business school.

Berkeley also refuses to accept Moorpark’s English classes for admission into its colleges of environmental design and architecture. However, Moorpark’s courses are accepted for admission into the liberal arts school.

The plan to toughen the standards at Moorpark College is expected to be voted on by the Ventura County Community College District Board of Trustees in January.

If approved by the board, it would then go to the faculty at Berkeley for approval.

Under the plan, a Moorpark College student would be required to write 16,000 words in freshman English classes, up from the present 12,000 words. Students would also have the option of taking a class requiring them to read at least four hefty books and write an additional 8,000 words.

“We’re trying to be competitive for the handful of students who want to get into Berkeley,” said Sidney Adler, the division director for humanities at Moorpark College. “Students are going to have to hustle.”

This year, Berkeley’s policy affected five students, college officials estimated.

The switch to the tougher standards is expected to place a strain on the Moorpark faculty, who will have to spend more time grading papers, said Roger Boedecker, acting president of the college.

“It puts the instructors in the position of having a greater workload,” he said. “But we want to accommodate the students’ interests.”

Until this year, Moorpark College officials said Berkeley admission officials accepted Moorpark English classes, with a special note from instructors saying students did extra work to meet the university’s requirement that they write 20,000 words and read at least four books.

But there was a change in policy at the university, and students are now being turned away.

Berkeley’s business and environmental design schools also refuse to accept the English classes at Oxnard College.

However, Berkeley will accept the English classes for transfer from Ventura College into all of its schools. Students at Oxnard College are encouraged to take an extra English class at Ventura if they want to get into the Berkeley schools.

Carol Fossett, who has an A average at Moorpark College, said she was told when she enrolled at Moorpark that her classes would transfer to Berkeley’s business school.

She said she was heartbroken when she found out recently that she was not accepted.

Fossett and student Tom Ruecker, who also wanted to attend Berkeley’s business school, explained their problem at the last meeting of the district’s trustees.

Ruecker said he was making arrangements to go to USC or the University of Maryland. Fossett said she plans to attend the University of Minnesota.

District officials told Fossett that they would try to persuade Berkeley to let her in, but she declined their offer.

“I’m set on Minnesota now,” she said.

But Ruecker said Tuesday that he was relieved that the college was taking action to improve the classes.

“At least something is being done so kids behind us won’t have the same thing happen to them,” Ruecker said. “Now other people will have a chance.”