Nearly 80% of New York City high school graduates need to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University’s community college system

When they graduated from city high schools, students in a special remedial program at the Borough of Manhattan Community College couldn’t make the grade. They had to re-learn basic skills — reading, writing and math — first before they could begin college courses. In sheer numbers it means that nearly 11,000 students who got diplomas from city high schools needed remedial courses to re-learn the basics. New York City schools tend to be very diverse.