It isn't an issue of the existence of non-existence of pre-requisite
competencies, it's an issue of locking these pre-requisite competencies into
a lock-step system of courses or grade levels in which you either keep step
or you're kicked out of the parade. Genevieve described a system in which
students who did the work were not told they had failed -- the bargain, it
seems, is the implicit promise that if you do the assignments and regularly
attend class you will learn this material. This is especially true for
community college English and math classes which have mandatory placement on
the basis of assessment tests. The students are basically told: go here and
you will learn what you need to move on to those levels that will enable you
to do college. May bargain isn't the right word, its almost an
institutional promise encoded in the elaborate mechanisms of matriculation
placement.
Paul H. Dillon