Floccinaucinihilipilification. That’s right, floccinaucinihilipilification. You’re following this, right? If not, let’s break it down.
flocci – from the Latin word floccus meaning tuft of wool or wisp
nauci – from the Latin word naucum meaning trifle or something from nothing
nihli – from the Latin word nihilum meaning nothing, something without value or worthless
pili – from the Latin word pilu meaning a hair or something insignificant
fication – suffix turning a verb into a noun to make or cause something to become
Now let’s put it back together. You can do it! I believe in you because you have all the tools you need. We have a complex, long, and fun-to-say word that is a noun constructed out of several Latin words that all relate to something lacking in significance or worth. And there we have it – floccinaucinihilipilification, the act of describing something as unimportant or not having value.
To share an illustrative – even if not perfect – example, it is likely that prior to reading this blog post, you did not know the meaning of floccinaucinihilipilification. However, you were able to build upon your own background knowledge and combine this with new information to understand the larger thesis of the argument and be able to apply it in new contexts in the future. You did not take a series of one to three courses on the English language and develop mastery on etymology and Latin which may or may not be relevant to your immediate or long-term needs. You also did not take a standardized test, perhaps with little preparation, to demonstrate what you know on discrete topics without much context, probably in the form of a multiple choice, timed exam before you had access to read this article. Yet, with a small amount of support, both in the content and in boosting your self-efficacy, you reached a high enough level of knowledge to engage in the floccinaucinihilipilification of traditional prerequisite remediation – just like with corequisite support. Brava and Bravo!
So how does this relate to Corequisite Support? At this point, Corequisite Support is settled law. As was pointed out in No Room for Doubt: Moving Corequisite Support from Idea to Imperative, students who enroll in college-level gateway math and English courses paired with Corequisite Support pass at exceptionally high rates, demonstrating that #CoreqWorks. Colleges and universities have seen gains of more than 40% in pass rates for students enrolled directly in gateway courses paired with Corequisite Support compared to those enrolled traditional prerequisite remedial courses, which equates to more than a tripling of pass rates at some colleges and universities. This has a tremendous positive impact on equity for student outcomes with some states effectively erasing institutional performance gaps that had persisted for so long in the past across racially-minoritized populations including Black and Hispanic students. And the proof is in front of us now – we know that colleges and universities make a difference when they adopt and scale the right structural and pedagogical changes like Corequisite Support. Given this, it is time to call for the floccinaucinihilipilification of the long sequences of traditional prerequisite remediation and fully scale Corequisite Support as the best practice to bring students into and help them achieve success in college.
I rest my case.
