CC Students "Eager but Unready"?

Does anyone else find this article in today's New York Times as offensive as I do?

Just asking.

Comments

[Richard]

It is offensive to suggest that money is being wasted on cc students that should have learned "the basics" in high school. Generally unacknowledged is the truth that high schools have had different educational goals than college or that money spent on cc students is a fraction of what we spend on the other half of college students in public and private institutions. Yes, vouchers through tax breaks and state grants have long existed for students to attend privates with public funds, and this has mostly served the affluent. For years educational efforts have been underfunded and unsupportive of the population where previous generations succeeded without education. In the past it was cheap and only semi-irresponsible of our culture to ignore educating all students because alternative employment to “information labor” existed: “Mr. Walton said careers like his father’s as a welder for a major construction company were now harder to find.” Like most news stories, the article vomits material before its readers in order to produce dramatic anxiety. Horror movies are popular for the same reason. Still I admit reacting more positively to this article than not. None of this news is new for people working in the community college trenches, and the fact that community colleges willing engage in attempting to solve the challenges of educating where others will or have not, this action is impressive.

How we provide access and foster equality, this is one of the important missions for community colleges in the coming years.

[joanna]

"The unyielding statistics showcase a deep disconnection between what high school teachers think that their students need to know and what professors, even at two-year colleges, expect them to know."
Now, what does THAT mean? Yes, I find the article offensive in that it makes community colleges seem worthless, remediation or not. It ignores the many varied offerings at community colleges, treats underperforming students as criminals( take, for example, the comment about "cracking down" on students needing remediation ). Moreover, it ignores the fact that community colleges vary according to their area demographics. This article is using ONE community college as the model for ALL community colleges. I find it telling that the author chose Dundalk (ccbcmd.edu) as a model since the student body is very much working class--and seems to fit the author's stereotype of the community college as a taxpayer's waste of money since the students won't get far even if they graduate (lower class and all that, y'know).
First of all, in the state of Maryland alone, there is a wide variety of offerings and programs at the community colleges--they aren't all alike (and yes,I happen to teach at one). Secondly, why is this ONE community college being set up as a negative example of the complaints of UNIVERSITY professors? Why aren't more CC professors, presidents and students interviewed and brought into the discussion? Certainly their views would add context to the concerns of the university professors. And finally, why not examine the lives of these students, who, according to their professors, have difficulty because they have to WORK to support themselves? I can think of very many students who have struggled to get through school for financial reasons and who have made it and made it very, very well.
Unfortunately, this article only provokes us to polarize--the CC versus the U and 4year schools; working class versus middle and upper classes; professors against professors; and high school teachers versus college professors. How useful is that? How much better it would have been to have had an article which asked why so many students need remediation these days. Or an article that viewed CC's a bit more fairly.

[smitchler]

Joanna, I agree that the article is biased and poorly written. Have you written the author?

[Beth Ritter-Guth]

I read it a whole different way. I thought they were slamming the K-12 system.

It is true that we see too many underprepared students at our CC. These same students received As and Bs in High School. Clearly, there IS a difference between what HS teachers teach and what we expect.

I do think the article makes too many rash generalizations. It isn't true that all community college graduates are not prepared in English and math. We have very strict guidelines (and testing) for passing remedial courses.

[joanna]

Sharon, I'm going to reread the article in light of Beth's comments and then talk with some folks at Dundalk. What I don't want to do is to give the impression that I'm miffed because my college isn't in the article, nor do I want to sound like I'm looking down at Dundalk because I'm not. On Friday, I'm going to a meeting of the statewide community college composition committee, and I'll check then. But I will write the letter. And then I'll get back to the 4C's voting process.

[bradley]

It's not the greatest article, but it didn't rub me wrong too often. I guess I'm reading it pretty much the way Beth did as well. The disconnect between high school and higher ed in terms of expectations may perhaps be the culprit, particularly with math as we've found, never mind the k12 folks are overburdened with all the crud they have to put up with.

Yes, CC's are still the poor step-child of higher ed and the article's generalizations are a bit broad in their application, but many of the points ring true. At my school, Spokane Falls CC (http://www.spokanefalls.edu) many of our students come in with an inflated sense of their capabilities, particularly in writing but in their ability to develop their thoughts as well. Math is the big stumbling block in getting an AA or into a four-year school. By the same token, students who begin at a CC and earn an AA are a little more likely to earn a BA than those who begin at a four-year school.

[joanna]

One week later. . .I reread the article and I believe that Beth and Bradley have a point about the real focus being the lack of preparation in k-12. However, I still think the depiction of cc's is patronizing and the use of university scholars to offer the sole critique is wrong, wrong, wrong. So Sharon, I will write that letter, but probaly not until next weekend when I have a minute.

[thebizofknowledge]

This is actually not a problem that is only affecting community colleges. In fact, many universities are now being forced to offer remedial classes to get students "up to speed." What we need to do is graduate high school students who are actually prepared for college level work.