Posted on 02/05/2015 6:47:14 AM PST by GodAndCountryFirst
President Obama wants to make community college free to all. But we already have way too many unqualified people going to community colleges. Did you know that the number of students who successfully graduate from publicly-funded community college is only 20%? And that figure is for students who take up to 3 years… to complete a 2 year program!
Put another way, 80% of students who go into community college don’t graduate in a reasonable period of time. And community colleges are heavily subsidized by the taxpayer. Why should we subsidize schools where 4 out of 5 students drop out? That’s an incredible waste of money!
Furthermore, what is actually taught at community colleges? For many students, it is basic reading and writing. There is a place to see how Spot runs. It is called grade school. It is called high school. It is not called college. If students can’t learn how to read and write in 12 years of schooling, they are unlikely to be successful in another two… which explains the high dropout rate. Why should taxpayers pay to try to teach basic skills at the college level?
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournalism.com ...
That would be true at the community college I teach at. 70-80% of the incoming students need to take remedial math and English.
We need to entirely privatize education at all levels. That will be the only way to return to the Christ-centered curriculums that once helped create a Godly citizenry in this Christian republic. We need all kids going to faith-based, church-run schools at an early age. Trade schools could be non-profit or for-profit. But with zero government money, teachers would be free to share the Gospel — a message sorely lacking at educational institutions today.
Huge numbers of people enroll in CC’s simply to get student loan money, which they then use to buy cars, pay rent, bail out their incarcerated lovers -— anything but what it was meant for. Needless to say, they have absolutely no intention of paying the money back.
Now Obama wants to throw even MORE money down this rat hole.
Yep. Cut the federal money out of it and let the states and local communities figure out how to go forward.
When I was a teenager our local community college was largely a trade school. It wasn’t the direction I took in life but right out of high school I took a year of industrial electrical systems.
Frankly we need more of that type of schooling, not less.
NOT on board with this.
We home-schooled our 8 kids, most started CC when they were still in HS then full-time CC for 2 years (usually getting all A’s), then received auto-acceptance in a major 4-year university graduating with a bachelor’s degree.
Excellent way to transition from HS to college, far less expensive than 4-yr., AND proves whether the student is serious enough to go on for a real degree.
Not only that, 4 yr. universities PREFER students from CC’s because they know they are serious students who have proven to have far higher graduation rates than the freshman who enter their 4 yr. programs...........
Cutting Fed funding? Yeah, I’ll go with that......
Community colleges already perform many useful missions. Glorifying the POTUS is not one we should add.
THE TRADITIONAL. My brother had no high aspirations and stopped his education with an AA degree that did not provide any direct employability but gave him a competitive leg up in his work career.
THE SECOND CHANCE. One of my good HS friends was devastated on seeing his SAT score as he aspired to UCLA. A couple of semesters of straight A grades in core science courses gave Ernie a path to his desired 4 year school.
GOOD TRAINING FOR GOOD JOBS. Some areas have very strong vo-tech programs in their junior colleges, often related to and supported by local industry. Perhaps there is a program for machinists or for medical lab tech or such.
POST-DOCTORAL WORK. (or, just taking classes individually for the need) My wife, mrs. jimfree, completed her PhD in 1992 but later in the 1990s did some courses at the local community college in history and literature that provided depth in her job as historian and program director in house museum, a Georgian mansion in the Maryland suburbs of DC.
LATE START. A friend of ours began her college education in her 50s. Ginny started her work at the local community college before transferring to university. I believe she finished a bachelor’s in business just prior to turning 60.
Those are five important markets that community colleges have served and can serve without become two-year asylums for Obama voters.
There IS a group of people who have to learn HOW to learn.
That may sound strange, but just sitting down with your book and APPLYING yourself or else being attentive to instruction may seem basic, but MANY young people are incapable of this.
Learning HOW to learn is fundamental and it’s not something that can be ‘leap-frogged’.
It doesn’t matter how many books or what kind, it doesn’t matter how many teachers or what kind, it doesn’t matter how many computers or what kind you give them.... if they don’t know HOW to learn... they won’t!!
Of course... it is also imperative that personal achievement and LEARNING are things you and your group actually value!
If you mock learning and have no respect for the process, then you WILL NOT learn!
Then get the federal money out of them.
The only thing I can figure out about Obama's latest punch is that he wants to exert greater control over colleges as if having complete control of public K thru 12 education is not enough.
Boy, them progresso-lib-marxists sure are greedy aren't they?
Many students who attend community colleges have no intention of graduating with an associates degree, but plan to pick up transfer courses, often fulfilling distribution requirements for a four-year degree at another institution, maybe getting a single year of college under their belts while saving money by living at home or simply by paying lower tuition. (I had a brilliant young woman, currently a junior at U. Va., work on a summer research project with me. She did her first year of college at a community college and never got an associates degree, nor any degree within three years of starting community college. I expect she'll finish her B.S., probably with honors, and go on for a Ph.D. when done. But she counts in the author's 80% "failure" rate.)
Many community college students who are pursuing an associates degree are working full time and going to school part time. So, let's see. If you go to school half-time, a degree that takes two years going full time will take... four years! More "failures" according to the author.
If Community College is free to all, why keep grades. What could be more egalitarian than not having a grade.
Somewhere down this path we get to not having to attend CC and being affirmative action window dressing.
“President Obama wants to make community college free to all.”
This is used car salesman talk. Nothing is free. What he means is:
“I have a plan to make the American people pay for free community college for all.”
Um...nope. I will not pay for that. But thanks Mr. President for the super suggestion. Now go back and play with your GI Abdul toys.
Yo Abdul!
He’ll fight for Allah wherever there’s trouble
GI Abdul is there!
GI Abdul!
A real Jihadian hero!
GI Abdul is there!
It’s GI Abdul against U.S. the enemy
Fighting to save the day.
He never gives up.
He’s rarely there,
Fighting for Allah over land and...well usually just land...
GI Abdul is the codename for ISIS - a cowardly, poorly trained special mission force.
It’s purpose: to defend Islam against the United States -
a free-market, democratic organization determined to make the world a safer place to live and work...
He never gives up.
He’ll stay til the bomb’s drop.
GI Abdul won’t dare.
GI Abdul!
GREAT idea: Let’s Liquidate Community College
BETTER idea: Let's get government completely out of the education business.
Do you notice a lot of PELL grant students learning to work the system?
Better: self pay for all schools, from preschool through PhD.
The schools would have to be acceptable to their population to get the $. It would stop under-civilized people from fornicating like rabbits because who is going to watch their kids all day while they party or watch TV?
There would be prices from cheap to fancy all over the country. Everyone buys groceries. Not everyone pays the same price for each item. It would be a great economic smorgasbord.
And there could be a zillion charities to help people attend school. Kids would have to want to learn or- HEY, YOU ARE OUT. We don’t provide “alternative schools.” Get out.
College would actually mean something. All colleges wouldn’t be bastions of liberal crap, because some would want industry to know that they do not offer crap; they are based on solid science and business. (And others might be University of Alien Encounters; who cares? Freedom.)
I would say that at least 70% of community college is not to get a degree but to take courses that they can use now. Like Auto mechanics, most just take that course only but have to add other junk they will very seldom on never use.
Exactly. The idea of doing away with them is idiotic and plays right into the democrat hands. If we get rid of them that leaves us with the most liberal higher learning institutions. Keep the federal money out of the community colleges and you’ll avoid the strings attached.
When I took the course in industrial electrical systems, my “professor” was no professor at all. He was a maintenance supervisor for a local factory who was earning an extra $100 per week by teaching three 2 hour courses per week. He wasn’t some overpaid professor who had never done the job.
Lots of things are nice, but painfully expensive. The internet now offers many ways to learn: videos, audio, books, blogs, search engines. Possibly missing is the competitive element present in classrooms, and standard certifications, but those things can be fixed, much faster if taxpayers weren't forced to heavily subsidize an 1800s brick and mortar technology filled with narcissistic unionized Democrats.
Most everything gets better, faster, cheaper over time, except government schools. There have been very few productivity gains in that field in the last 100 years. It's not funny anymore.
It’s O’bastard’s way of getting his affirmative action voter base a ‘degree’ in something past that worthless HS diploma they were handed just for showing up.
Community College will be dumbed down for his voter base, so they can sue employers to hire them if they only require CC now.
Soon it will take a Phd to get hired at Walmart.
That is true, but the sorts of courses I've mentioned have traditionally been inexpensive. What Obama has suggested--turning community colleges into real education centers for the educationally disadvantaged--would indeed be very expensive, and change their traditional character.
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