To the Editor of The Southern Illinoisan:

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) has proposed that all high
school students be required to take a college predatory sequence of courses.
This proposal makes sense since 2/3's of high school graduates in Illinois
go on to college and 90% express the desire eventually earn a bachelors
degree. Yet most never will. If the IBHE's  proposal is enacted more
students will be able to attend and graduate from a four year college or
university.

There is however another, little discussed, reason to support the IBHE's
proposal. To make one's way in the world today requires both broad knowledge
and mental discipline. You do not get these by taking "consumer math" and
"life skills" courses. Young people who have had to struggle through
courses in literature, grammar, algebra, geometry, history, a foreign
language, biology and chemistry, may find that college will be but one
choice among many and they may well opt to make their mark on the world
sooner rather than later.  Employers and others will once again see a high
school diploma as a mark of real achievement.

Mike Sullivan
Assoc. Prof.
Math Dept.
SIUC