Regarding the recent article about the low student retention rate at Augusta State University, let me speak from the high schools' point of view.

I inferred three charges against high schools in general that affect college retention rate: students are not prepared; grades are watered down; and high schools are not aligned with college curricula.

The college has a responsibility to set the criteria for admission to college. If your SAT standard for admission is 890, and somehow that's not working, raise the standard. Can't the college correlate GPAs from high schools with SAT results, plus look at the historical data from high schools to determine probable success?

When the president of the Southern Regional Educational Board complained about alignment of high school and college curricula, he forgot to say that the SREB has been trying to do this since 1965. The current president of the SREB has specifically tried to align the core courses since 2005. What's the holdup?

Finally, if you check the freshman English Web site at ASU, you will find they will teach the course - not that students must have all the skills when you walk though the door; faculty actually will give instruction. Who checks to see if the professors are living up to their part of the formula?

Bob Warren, Norwood