Posted on 10/14/2019 2:14:14 PM PDT by karpov
A sense of urgency has taken hold of higher education leaders nationwide. Reports of declining community college graduation rates and the lack of skilled workers have led policymakers and college leaders to sound the alarm and vow to do whatever it takes to lower the high rate of “dropouts” and equip students to meet the labor demands of an evolving economy.
For example, in a policy brief about non-completing students written for myFutureNC (an organization focused on educational attainment), Anita Brown-Graham and Catherine Moga Bryant describe the “high numbers of non-completers in North Carolina” and argue that “while many enroll, too few North Carolina students who attend two- or four-year institutions complete their programs.” According to Brown-Graham and Bryant, the two primary reasons for why students fail to complete a credential in community college are “inadequate preparation and difficulty navigating the higher education system.”
But is community college student performance as dire as Brown-Graham and Bryant suggest? After all, 42 percent of North Carolina’s community college students do graduate, transfer, or are still enrolled with 36 credits after six years. And while it’s true that the majority of community college students do not complete credentials, are all “non-completers” failing to find meaningful employment?
As it turns out, the story is much more complex than many college officials acknowledge.
In their analyses of why students don’t finish their studies, policymakers overlook an important subset of the community college population: students who want to take a few courses, but who don’t intend to earn a credential or transfer. These students, sometimes referred to as “skills builders” or “upskillers,” only take the few specific courses they need to gain new skills for employment or to advance in their careers. Skills builders commonly take courses that train students in specific work-related fields
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
“I went to a trade school. The only thing taught was whatever it took to equip a student to enter a trade. “
That’s the key to breaking this communist indoctrination system. Only take practical classes.
I have a BS and 2 associates degrees. I now take and facilitate OLLI classes. I have taken numerous classes at community college, primarily software without going for another degree.
The problem with these schools is too many prereqs that have nothing to do with what you want to learn and they teach to slow
In the Visual Arts a degree means nothing!
Employers want a solid portfolio. Even then, regardless of the prestige of the college or university, workers without experience start at rock bottom.
After retiring I started taking classes at the local community college with a major in the Visual Arts. My fellow classmates are passionate about acquiring skills. The degree itself has very low priority.
The last I checked, I have more than 60 community college credits and no degree. Formally, I am a Visual Arts major. My main interest is painting portraits in oil. At the moment, I am studying photography a skill that will help me in my main area of study.
I have a doctorate.
Did the same with my daughter. We payed for her two years at Mohawk valley Community College, Utica, NY AAS Graphic Arts. MVCC is known for credit acceptance to many colleges towards a BS. DeVry accepted over 20 hours of credit from MVCC. Good community College with many instructors part-time from local businesses.
Which is, by the way, a great idea. It adds up to a job well done...
Community colleges offering two-year associate degrees are useful in three ways.
1. They are cheap. The cost is less than half, often less than a quarter the cost of four-year state colleges.
2. The give students a chance to prove they have the ability and drive to pass college courses. Those who earn two-year degrees usually take a 50-50 mix of curriculum specific and liberal arts/general education courses. Acceptance and transfer to four-year programs is almost automatic upon graduation with a decent GPA. A 2+2 or in the case of students who transfer into an unrelated major a 2+3 year bachelor’s degree is easily attainable for those graduates.
3. They offer skill related courses for those who aren’t seeking a college degree.
I taught accounting and business computing courses at a major university for 35 years. We offered an associate degree on the four-year campus. We had a large contingent of adult students who wanted to learn accounting, spreadsheet and database management skills. In other departments one could learn welding, dairy operations, surveying, AutoCad, baking, greenhouse operations and even tree climbing (urban forestry).
While a large percentage of two-year students are ill prepared for math and college English, another significant group show up to learn job related skills. For me, sadly, I was never able to sit in on the welding classes. I was always teaching freshman financial accounting at those times.
Like I always told my students, you can stand at the door and say “welcome to WalMart” or you can learn double entry bookkeeping and sit at a computer in the air conditioned office making three times as much as the greeter. You don’t need the sheepskin if you can write macros in Excel.
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