The Truth About Community College
When people think of community colleges, chances are a lot of stereotypes spring to mind. Community college has the reputation of being a place for people who can’t hack it at a four year university, people who just want vocational degrees, people who are unmotivated and aren’t going to amount to anything. If you have these perceptions, then I highly recommend you read this article about the Top 7 Community College Myths.
I have taught communication courses both at a major university and at a community college and these preconceived notions that people have about community colleges are gross misconceptions. At Pikes Peak Community College where I currently work, I have had the pleasure of teaching some of the brightest, most creative, hardest working and most motivated individuals I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Here are some of my favorite things I have noticed about my own students:
1) They have big dreams. Community college is not the place where unmotivated people go for an easy degree. I have students who want to be nurses, doctors, engineers, accountants, teachers, psychologists, lawyers, business managers, politicians, and architects just to name a few. Based on the caliber of work they have put out, I firmly believe they will be successful in achieving these ambitions and becoming successful in their careers.
2) They have a desire to learn. Attending college isn’t something you just happen into. It is a conscious decision that is not entered into lightly. These students are in school because they have ambitions and goals to achieve. Many plan on continuing their education by pursuing bachelors and graduate level degrees. Most of them don’t complain about the class or coursework because they genuinely want to be there. I have found most of my students to be exceptionally hardworking and eager to learn. They don’t just show up and passively attend class. They participate in discussions and classroom activities and ask thought-provoking questions. Often I find that the teacher has become the student, because I learn as much from them as they do from me.
3) They are diverse. I know this is a rather general statement, but this is the best way I can describe it. In one class the age range might be anywhere from 16 to 65. My students are diverse in race, gender, religion, political ideals, sexual orientation, upbringing, education level, work experience, relationship status, family makeup, etc. The list goes on. If everyone at a college was the same, certainly my job would be easier, but it would not be nearly as fun and interesting. I love the challenge of figuring out the unique culture of each class and how to best relate to everyone. The more diverse the group, the more difficult this can be, but it also makes the whole experience far more exciting. At PPCC I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the most interesting people I have ever met in my entire life. Their stories entertain and inspire me. No two classes are ever the same. Even teaching the same lesson to three different classes yields three completely different experiences.
4) They are creative. As a speech teacher, one thing that can get annoying for me is when students pick generic, run-of-the-mill speech topics. In my past teaching experience, every semester in every class there would be at least one speech about why you should wear your seat belt, why you should wear sunscreen, and why you should donate blood. These generic topics would generally bore me to tears. At PPCC though, this has not been an issue. Instead I have been treated to topics such as the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the predictions of Nostradamus, the history of hula dancing and why the zombie apocalypse is a genuine possibility. These creative, outside-the-box speeches are vastly more interesting than generic ones and I rarely hear the same topic twice. Also, class time tends to yield more creative responses to questions. For example, this was an in-class exchange a week ago:
Me: What is one type of nonverbal feedback you might get from your audience?
Student: Rotten tomatoes.
5) They are highly intelligent and successful. The only students who fail my classes are the ones that stop showing up or don’t do the work. The rest tend to put out high quality work and get excellent grades. This is not because I am an easy grader either. On the contrary, I hold my PPCC students to the same standards I did at Auburn because they deserve the same caliber of education and should be properly prepared for a four year college should they decide to transfer. The quality of work I have seen over the past several semesters has been amazing. The misconception about community college students that bothers me the most is that they are somehow less intelligent than students at large universities. This is a horrible stereotype that I hope people will one day see past. My students are anything but stupid. In fact, there are many I would call downright brilliant. Like I said before, the ones who don’t succeed in my classes fail because they don’t do the work, not because they aren’t smart enough.
Now don’t get me wrong, not every student I encounter is as wonderful as the ones I describe above. However, in my experience, the awesome ones far outweigh the not-so-awesome ones. I find it personally offensive when people make judgmental blanket statements about my students. Anyone who has any of these stereotyped preconceptions about community colleges should sign up and take a course at one. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at all of the amazing individuals you will meet.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
