Community colleges are well suited to provide many of these basic courses, both for students who will later leave for a larger college and those who attend community college for other reasons. When it comes to who decides what courses should be offered at the community college, college administrators and teachers are better suited than students in the matter. Educators and administrators have a greater view of what students need to succeed in a job and at other schools. They are more likely to understand the trends within certain fields. Additionally, as advisors and educators, they have a responsibility to turn out graduates who are able to successfully find jobs based on their skills. While students may feel like they understand what they are doing and where they are going, many students simply do not have the perspective...
They should offer clear coursework that cohesively fits with what employers and other schools will expect from community college graduates. In other words, community colleges should focus more on pre-professional training than on the liberal arts, other than in areas of basic need like writing. Since students pay to further their education, they should be able to recognize the benefits that actual job and degree training -- even the uninteresting parts -- offer them. Students who want to learn about subjects that do not fit into the community college repertoire can find other outlets for their interests.
Also, many are unprepared to complete tasks unique to community college such as teaching diverse students. Those faculty members in rural areas not only have to deal with those challenges, but also sometimes have difficulty adjusting to living and working in a rural area. Among those having difficulty, workload and students' abilities were cited as common disappointments in the work; however, most community college instructors have a high level
Although community colleges have yet to be central to the debates over strengthening elementary and secondary education, some educational leaders have seen a role for them in strengthening American secondary education." (Baker, Dudziak, and Tyler 9) Baker et al. further report that Dale Parnell, former president of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), has advocated that community colleges work with area high schools to develop new, intensive technical education programs.
Community College Course Teaching a class at the community college level, particularly when there is a wide age range among adult students, presents different challenges from teaching in grades K-12. Adults approach learning differently than do children; they have varied reasons for wanting to learn and bring a range of perspectives and experiences to the classroom. Malcolm Knowles gained prominence for his attempts to develop a distinctive conceptual basis for adult
(Rosow, 1994, p. 797) From this review there is a clear sense that success with regard to community college students is determined by their ability to successfully complete the first term of study, as well as by their ability to receive financial aide that adequately covers costs. Additionally, offering culturally diverse social interactions through both official and unofficial means also assists the minority student in achieving success through peer relations
(North Carolina Community College, system 2004, critical success factors) However, it must be mentioned that North Carolina is for the main part a public sector state, and it has a strong and a very well respected group of private Four-year colleges, and Community Colleges. While the four-year colleges in the state serve about 39% of all the undergraduates, the public Community Colleges serve about 43% of all students of the
A typical example of a recent high school graduate is that of Erica Espinosa, age 18, a graduate of Northwest High School in Germantown, Maryland. Erica was accepted at the University of Maryland at College Park, which costs $21,163 for tuition, fees and housing and several other four-year schools but chose a full scholarship honors program at Montgomery College, where she can attend school for free and live at
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