Good Money After Bad - The Plight of the Community College System

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.

Liberal, Yet Logical

It is time for the releasing of the torture memos, and the torture of suspected terrorist story altogether, to be called what it really is.

The most overblown, media driven story in recent memory.

Going back a few years here, but was the fact that these tactics were being used really a shock to anyone? Did anyone believe that, in the pursuit of information that could affect national security and American lives, we restrained ourselves so as not to extend beyond, say, a Perry Mason style interrogation? Who are we kidding? Not only were we not surprised by it, we expected it, we wanted it. And, dare I say, we needed it. And despite all efforts to persuade otherwise, it will continue, as it always has. Just not in Guantanamo.

What is most interesting about the release this week of the terror memos is not the torture methods employed, but the safety measures applied to these methods. The time allotted, the exact manner, and extreme safety measures that were in place to prevent permanent injury, never mind death, were impressively protective. The same methods could not be in use for more than 30 days without additional approval, which was given once evidence was provided that the suspect had a high likelihood of having pertinent information. In every case, it was mandatory to have a physician and psychiatrist present, with full autonomy. A slap to the face could only be with fingers spread wide, and to a specific area. The accounts of “throwing people into walls” were true, but the fact that this was a flexible wall built in a special room, and again, done with physicians present, was hardly mentioned in the press.

Nothing in these memos (actually, report. They are long as hell and read something the back of a credit card application) is something we did not already know, save some minor details. What is impressive it the lengths gone to physically protect these “combatants,” the reports littered with the precautions taken and considered mandatory. These reports reduce what was a media firestorm to a log cabin fireplace, an unnecessarily exaggerated story thrown on the disaster that was the Bush administration. And considering the overwhelmingly damning evidence detailing the incompetence already, we failed to question the initial accounts of terror. The media and ACLU told us to be angry about it, that it was un-American, all while we gave it a passing, superficial display of shock to our friends over coffee at Starbucks.

These reports mean little, if anything. It gives away nothing that was not already known, and if this in some way aids the terrorists in their planning, then they are far less intelligent that we thought. These reports were met with the expectation of Jack Bauer-esque, kneecap busting torture, and were greatly disappointing to the general public. As much as we can pile on the previous administration, Jack Nicholson was right. Regarding these CIA agents doing what needs to be done, “we want them on that wall, we need them on that wall.” These “memos” do nothing to change that. This is not right-wing or left wing, its simple logic.