Today, the White house released a statement regarding President Obama’s new plan to provide an additional $12 billion into the Community College System, with a large part of it going toward financial aid programs. In the current economic climate, this is welcome news, as college enrollment, especially among the more cost effective Community Colleges, often increases exponentially. Additionally, students are not considered unemployed, therefore the all important unemployment rate can be effected positively, and as the economy betters, a larger group of qualified workers will be available.
But here we have another situation, similar to the healthcare issue, where throwing more cash at the problem is the presumed solution for what is nothing short of a broken system. For some, the community college is a welcome opportunity to achieve more than would have otherwise be available, and for the government to help this group is more than welcome. To be able to obtain an associate’s degree at a far reduced cost (almost half of a standard state school) and be able to transfer to complete a bachelors is a dream for those graduating from high school in difficult circumstances or for the adult returning to school. And for those, Mr. Obama, thank you.
However, the halls of the community colleges are filled with far more than those willing to work hard to achieve a dream. First, most insurance companies have provisions that state that children enrolled as a full time student can remain on their parents insurance throughout college, prompting large amount of applicants that are enrolled for this very reason alone. In what has become a classic “you can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink” scenario, classrooms, especially day classes, are often made up of individuals that have since proven their full time status to insurance companies, received financial aid, and now attend few, if any, lectures to say nothing of fulfilling assignments. In this respect, the community college is reduced to nothing more than an extension of high school, professors reduced to babysitters of a group of tremendously uninitiated 18 year-olds.
Additionally, unlike the majority of 4 year schools, including state colleges, community colleges are mandated by state statute to accept anyone with a high school diploma, no matter their transcript or results on a placement test. Thus, classes in existence, and often filled, are English 043 Writing: Paragraph to Essay, English 063 Writing: Intro to the Essay, and English 073: Academic Reading. None of these courses count for any degree, but are prerequisites to taking the higher level classes. Due to the ridiculously low academic standards at local high schools, these students have a high school diploma yet are essentially taking classes teaching the absolute basics that any intelligent eighth grader should already know well. Making matters far worse, in what is a horrifying statistic, recently the Dean of Academics at a Connecticut community college stated that just 25% of those enrolled in English043 received a C or better.
The result is a school that is difficult to take seriously. To call this a College but forcing it to take every student with a high school diploma, therefore unable to place any standard on its applicants, reduces the value of its output. A university should be a forum to interact with those wanting to learn, not with those looking to waste away eligible years of health insurance. High schools, paid for by the local municipalities (the state does some funding, depending on need), have simply been reduced to diploma factories, especially in predominantly urban areas, monitoring students until graduating age when they can be passed on to the community college, funded by the state and federal grants.
So the question begs an answer. Will these additional monies continue to be dispersed the way they are now, lacking any intelligent discretion? Will there be steps in place to change the system, working to find those that not only need a better education, but possess the will to obtain it? There are far more issue with the community college system that need to be addressed, and the standard political ploy of throwing more money at the problem will do little to fix what ails it.
3 comments:
this may help to decrease the unemployment rate by increasing the number of students,however this may effect the immigrant labors which will effect the economy.
HSD-Welcome, and thank you for the comment. The statement about the decreasing unemployment rate was not necessarily a positive one, just a byproduct of of additional students.
Some of the best students in community colleges are the immigrants, which know from experience the value of education. An educated workforce, whether born in the U.S. or not, is always a good thing.
Coming from a background in education, I can say you summed up the issue perfectly. As much as I hate to generalize, the community college environment is filled with as many people earning a diploma because it is the next logical step in their student careers as there are people who learn for the sake of getting into a good 4 year school or begin their career (law enforcement for example susually requires a 2 year degree).
I would think this money would be better spent at state schools, since many of them also offer 2 year programs which would grant students access to good education at a more affordable pricetag. I mean if you live in the same state as the state school tuition is at little as $3800/semester... including presitgious schools like Michgan State, UCLA, Florida State, and pretty much any NCAA division 1 team. As you suggest, this would ensure the investment gets the best bang for the buck, especially considering community colleges are already cheaper than state schools.
Still, anything that gets more people into college is a good thing... we desparately need to groom the new workforce of the 21st century.
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