Aristotle once wrote, “the roots of education are bitter but the fruit is sweet.”
As far as community colleges are concerned, those roots need to be replanted. The community college system is in need of some change and revamping to survive the current social and economical climate.
A report by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at Sacramento State University said that 70 percent of students seeking degrees did not transfer to a university within six years. The study polled at least 250,000 people and was conducted by the Institute for Higher Learning.
Of those people, only 40 percent had earned at least 30 college credits, which is the minimum needed for jobs that don’t require much college experience.
The study comes at a time when President Barack Obama recently hosted a summit on the importance of community colleges. There are 2.8 million students in the California community college system, making up at least 70 percent of post high school enrollment.
A recent article by Slate magazine titled “Community College Organizer,” had an idea that seems intriguing. The article stated that many community colleges have implemented more trade-focused courses, which for schools in Los Angeles, would be beneficial.
For instance, the article states that in Connecticut, the state opened its first casino near a community college. The college started offering classes to become a casino employee, thus helping to increase graduates of community colleges.
By creating a wider variety of courses to offer, we would eliminate overcrowding in classes and also allow students to get the education they want. The article does state that they are “designed to respond to the needs of the community.”
As much as it would pain students, a hike in tuition may not be a bad idea. Sure the economy isn’t our best friend right now but if we were to raise tuition to at least $100 per unit we could eliminate the large number of students in classes, thus shoveling students through the system to graduate faster.
At Bunker Hill Community College, the cost is $131 per credit and they have 5,000 students enrolled, which is a fifth of our campus. Wouldn’t that be nice? Imagine how small our classes would be.
Community colleges are needed more than ever especially in California, with its downtrodden economy forcing university students to leave their respective schools and come to a community college. We would be fools to say that we don’t need community colleges, but what we do need is a more reformed system. After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day and Community Colleges will we need to start from the ground up