Dear advisors,

As you advise students for next semester, we in the Mathematics Department
strongly urge you to advise students to take their mathematics courses as
soon as possible. For example, of those 27 students who took Math 106,
Intermediate Algebra, in Fall 2001 and immediately took Math 131, College
Algebra, only 3 failed and 0 withdrew. By contrast, of those 51 students
who passed Math 106 before Fall 2001 and took Math 131 in Spring 2002,
there were 13 failures and 9 withdrawals. The phrase "use it or lose it" is
nowhere more applicable than in Mathematics. To quote Thomas Huxley,
"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make
yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you
like it or not."


Ed Rozema
Mathematics Department/Dept 6956

Office:    (423) 425-4584
Fax:       (423) 425-4586
Math Dept: (423) 425-4545