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I went to community college, got an associates, and went to complete a BS in CS. Like pretty much everything else in life, you will get out what you put in. If

I went to community college, got an associates, and went to complete a BS in CS. Like pretty much everything else in life, you will get out what you put in. If you are an unmotivated person who didn't take the traditional path of going to a 4 year school right after HS, chances are you are probably going to still be unmotivated when you go CC and end up dropping out. If you were unable to take the traditional 4 year approach because life got in the way (like a young pregnancy, coming from a poor, rural family), then CC is going to give you a chance that wouldn't have had otherwise. When I was at CC, I never got the impression that goal of the system was to get everyone an associates degree and then into a 4 year to complete a bachelors, but rather to give the people in the second category a path to a bachelors. I really hate using the term, but the writers of the this article must be extremely privileged and out of touch if they don't understand that not everyone get the chances to go from HS graduation to living in the dorms as freshman, and the CC system is a great tool for upward mobility.

bvirkler 13y ago
This was my first thought as well - what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Sure there's kids that treat it as high school part 2, but in my experience there's plenty of that at 4-year schools as well. I got into my junior college's honors program, which meant free tuition for 2 years. In addition I participated in a local Fortune 100 company's student trainee program working 20 hours a week getting professional experience. It was a great jump-start to my college and professional career. Even without free tuition, it seems like a no-brainer to me. Junior college professors can tell which students are there to learn. I had great relationships and learned a lot from both my junior college and university professors. To me the university atmosphere/experience isn't worth the extra cost.
rndmize 13y ago
Did you even read the article? The entire point made is that not everyone has the opportunity to do college straight out of high school for any number of reasons, and those students, often without strong life/career/academic guidance, don't succeed in the current community college systems. The author examines the success of a new system with a strong emphasis on advising, guidance, and providing poor students the things they need - book loans, money, etc. - so they can effectively succeed at a CC. > Like pretty much everything else in life, you will get out what you put in. This is exactly the kind of idea the article is largely running counter to. Putting in the time and the effort isn't going to take you as far as you need to go if you have to figure out everything yourself from scratch; if you have no idea what to major in, or how to pick a major, or what majors are worthwhile; or if you have to take care of a kid, or work a job, and take remedial classes at the same time; if you don't have peers you can turn to that can provide good advice... Kids from the burbs grow up with certain skills and attitudes and approaches indoctrinated into them from the start, and the "do everything yourself" approach may work for them because they have that prior grounding. That doesn't mean it will work for everyone.

bvirkler 13y ago

This was my first thought as well - what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Sure there's kids that treat it as high school part 2, but in my experience there's plenty of that at 4-year schools as well. I got into my junior college's honors program, which meant free tuition for 2 years. In addition I participated in a local Fortune 100 company's student trainee program working 20 hours a week getting professional experience. It was a great jump-start to my college and professional career. Even without free tuition, it seems like a no-brainer to me. Junior college professors can tell which students are there to learn. I had great relationships and learned a lot from both my junior college and university professors. To me the university atmosphere/experience isn't worth the extra cost.

rndmize 13y ago

Did you even read the article? The entire point made is that not everyone has the opportunity to do college straight out of high school for any number of reasons, and those students, often without strong life/career/academic guidance, don't succeed in the current community college systems. The author examines the success of a new system with a strong emphasis on advising, guidance, and providing poor students the things they need - book loans, money, etc. - so they can effectively succeed at a CC. > Like pretty much everything else in life, you will get out what you put in. This is exactly the kind of idea the article is largely running counter to. Putting in the time and the effort isn't going to take you as far as you need to go if you have to figure out everything yourself from scratch; if you have no idea what to major in, or how to pick a major, or what majors are worthwhile; or if you have to take care of a kid, or work a job, and take remedial classes at the same time; if you don't have peers you can turn to that can provide good advice... Kids from the burbs grow up with certain skills and attitudes and approaches indoctrinated into them from the start, and the "do everything yourself" approach may work for them because they have that prior grounding. That doesn't mean it will work for everyone.