Community College: A Personal Perspective

I have three university degrees, one in education, one in administration and the third in economics.  When my oldest child started college, I was working full time as a teacher, but I badly needed a second job.  So one Saturday I pounded out my resume on a manual typewriter and sent it out to every Community College in the metropolitan area.   By Thursday I had a night job teaching Introduction to Macro-economics at the local college.  For the next ten years I taught one or two classes each semester, more during the summer.

During that decade of work with Community College students I came to have tremendous respect for them.  These men and women were, in many ways, the embodiment of America’s frontier spirit.  Some were in Community College because they had blown off high school, only to learn that smart really does matter.  Others were just too poor to go to college.  Some needed to work and fit school into their spare time.  Some simply wanted a second chance.  They were professionals, white collars, blue collars, ex-military and unwed mothers.  They were, in short, all of us.  And none of them were giving up on plans for a better life.

They had their butt in the chair every night, tired from their day jobs, missing their families,  juggling job, school and family—just like I was.  And they worked.  The first thing I noticed was the difference between teaching public school students who had to be there, and teaching students who were paying for the privilege.  When their own money was on the line, they took things seriously.  For the first time they had something tangible to lose if they screwed up.  I was teaching math intensive material to students who came from every arc of preparation, and 90% of them gave me 90% effort, 90% of the time.  That, my friends, is any teacher’s definition of Heaven. 

The Community College system is a uniquely American creation.  We are the nation of, “everybody gets a second chance.”  It is what makes us a generous people.

Joliet Junior College in Illinois is the oldest such school in the country, opening its doors in 1901.  During the Great Depression the focus of these schools shifted slightly to job training programs.  After the end of World War II and the influx of GI’s going to school on that masterpiece of legislation, the G.I. Bill, the Community Colleges started offering a wider and more academic buffet.  These schools became a national network in the 1960’s.  Today, over 100 million people have attended over 1,000 Community Colleges.  

Every one of these students has been dedicated to the idea that you don’t need a Cadillac, when a Ford can get you there just as well.  Every one of them is finding their own success in their own way and time.  And every one of them is motivated by having some skin in the game.  When President Obama says, “…let’s make it free…” he says so with the attitude of a Harvard snob who thinks Community College is worth—well—nothing.  He is wrong.  Community Colleges are worth a great deal.  And if you really want to make them affordable for all, tell the employers who will hire these graduates that any money with which they reimburse their employees for college can be deducted directly from the company’s tax burden.  The question becomes, do you want to reward entrepreneurship and honor scholastic effort, or do you want to create another rudderless government handout? 

Protect Community Colleges and keep the faith.