You've got it backwards. When I was young, I took classes at a community college and went to parties in university dorms. No one stays on campus at a CC, so there are no parties there. :-) A university works much like a complete community. CC is just a place to take classes and then leave for the day.
I would have to look back up a few posts -- but I believe the point that I was making (and how we got on this at all, in the first place) is that "this is the environment and sub-culture of these 18-24 year olds" ... you see ... :-) ... regardless of whether at Community College, City University or College Town ...
As I said, I was at a commuter college myself, that being Portland State University. And it's right in the downtown section of Portland. It's kind of hard to tell what is campus and what is not. And there are all sorts of residence facilities all over the place and right next door to it and right on the campus, too. But, a lot of students commuted from their own apartments or houses, wherever they were in the city.
It's not like students are "partying" inside the classrooms on campus, if that's what you mean by "on campus". I mean, even the "college town" of Corvallis, where Oregon State University is, you didn't have parties inside the actual university facilities, but you could have something going on at someone's apartment that might be right adjacent to campus. In fact, that was most of it anyway, even if you lived on campus, you couldn't get a big party going inside a dorm, you couldn't get a big party going inside a co-op, and so you would go off-campus for those parties.
Now, that being the case, it doesn't make any difference whether you're talking about a community college or a city university where people are commuting or you're talking about a college town where a great number of students live right on campus inside co-ops, residence housing or dorms. It's all the same when it comes to the partying, as those students go to where the parties are ... you see ... :-)
Now, the community college that I can reference personally is Portland Community College and they have several campuses. And there is always housing surrounding the campus. And what you'll find is that there will be students around that college, too, plus those who commute from around the city.
And all of those facilities (I'll mention the ones that I'm referencing here again), like Portland Community College, Portland State University and Oregon State Univesity -- they will all shut down and be locked up tighter than a drum at night and on weekends, except for maybe a couple of classrooms (for some evening courses, if they have them, or the university library.
There's no partying in those facilities. They're always locked up. The partying goes on in someone's house, or in someone's apartment -- or if it's smaller and a quieter affair, then perhaps in someone's dorm room (but you're not going to have a raucus party in there (because they do have supervision there and they do shut down those types of things). And you're not going to have raucus parties in the co-ops either, because they'll have "house mothers" there onsite and they'll shut you down in short order, too ... LOL ...
Again, the partying does go on, it is at all of those facilities (no matter Community College, City University or College town) -- because it's "in the culture" and the "the environment" of the 18-24 year olds who are going to these facilities.
BUT, to bring it back to the point of the 13-14 year old girl who was to go to university level classes -- that's the "environment" and "culture" that she would be exposed to and be influenced by -- and it will have an effect -- unless -- there is direct and immediate supervision by someone who knows her and they end up dropping her off, waiting for her and immediately picking her up after every class or lab or library session.
And, as I was saying before, if that 13-14 year old girl only takes a few course here and there -- well..., she'll be "caught up in age" with the other students, in a few years and then she'll be "age appropriate" -- at that point in time to be able to take a full load of classes.
I would just let her be a 13-14 year old girl and play around with her age-appropriate friends, in the meantime, until she catches up and is "age-appropriate" for the university level culture that she'll be dumped right into. And in the meantime, until she gets there, while she is playing around with her friends of her own age, she can be supervised directly for a few courses here and there (as I was pointing out in Post #125 ...).
That depends on the program of study you take. There are programs of study that prepare the student to enter the workforce directly upon completion. (I found that type of degree to be worthless for me, so we agree there.) But, there are other programs of study that prepare the student to transfer to a university. Essentially, you are taking the same university-level courses for a much lower tuition.
Well, I see here, that we've ventured off into the merits of a Community College education and classes versus a university ... :-)
And for that, I would just say that there are good reasons why some people go to specific universities for their four-year degrees -- which they figure will help them in their future careers. And there are good reasons for staying away from Community Colleges for some of those future plans, too.
But, that would be something that would be specific to the future plans for a specific person. For a whole lot of things, in the normal job market, it wouldn't make any difference. And for those people, it would be okay to go to a Community College and transfer up to a University. Heck! For a lot of them, it would be okay just to go two years and get that certificate and be done with it and get into the job market.
Since I see the usefulness of Community Colleges for the general community that they are in, and it does offer very practical classes -- I don't have any complaints against them. I've taken some courses there in my later years, too. And I thought it was great. I mean, I took some dancing classes at Portland Community College and that was fun ... so yeah, people can have fun at Community Colleges ... :-)
You wouldn't even have to mention CC on your resume. See the example I gave in my last post. You'd only have to list the university that gave you your degree.
Now that depends entirely on the field of work you're getting into. If you're talking about a "normal work-a-day job" -- sure, it probably wouldn't make any difference and you wouldn't have to mention too much more than the graduating school.
But, if you're talking about working at some research institution and/or being a brain surgeon or heart specialist, or getting involved in some of the advanced sciences, or working at a NASA facility being in charge of some space program and/or planning on advancing up to be Vice President in charge of a division or even CEO someday -- nope... I would stay as far away from Community College as possible ... LOL ...
And in some of those things, each of your classes will be checked and they'll be seeing what courses you took and what grades you got for each one.
BUT, then again, you could be like Bill Gates, just quit school, hype some program and bamboozle IBM, and then bootstrap your compnay into taking over a entire sector of an industry ... :-)
Again, in the examples I gave, those students would go broke if they attended a university for all of their classes the entire four years. They would never complete their education, and the debt collectors would be chasing them. So, attending university for the entire four years is not an option for them.
And some people just arent meant to take advantage of that kind of education. If they're one of them, then that's fine. They just have to get by whatever way they can. Not everyone can be at the top... there's always got to be more Indians than Chiefs ... :-)
I happen to have come across homeschooled students who would walk all over those college students and be able to handle that environment very well at age 13 or 14. This young girl might be the same. But, for the record, I myself have never made broadbrush statements about all homeschoolers. If you were to search through my posts, you'd find me saying that each homeschooled student is different.
And I've spoken in the "aggregate" too.... not for one specific individual.
BUT, you see, even though we can't speak specifically for just one individual, we can speak about what is not wise to do and what is wise to do for a group of individuals, as we do see the results that happen to groups of individuals.
I find that many will say that there is one particular individual that they know "doesn't have this problem" or "was able to do this" -- which would be contrary to what is being presented "as a group" for a whole cross-section of individuals.
And yes, one particular individual could very well depart from the "general rule" for a larger group. That's a given in just about anything.
Let's say that we're talking about getting addicted to drugs. And you're told to not experiment around with heroin and cocaine and other drugs like that, because that will ruin people's lives, if they start experimenting around with them. Someone is going to come back and say that they know someone who did experiment around, and nothing happened to them and they happen to be the most successful person they know and that they have a wonderful family, their kids are great and so on and so forth.
Well, the point is "not" -- whether someone can find one particular example that breaks from the general rule -- but rather -- what is the wise and prudent thing to do.
And so, that's why I say that I would never send a 13-14 year old girl into a university environment to finish her education (not talking about a situation like I was talking about in Post #125 ...).
"As a group", and homeschooled or not, that would be the stupidest decision in the world to send that 13-14 year old girl into that environment and expect her to hold her own. While you may find a few here and there that may do okay, as a group, it would be a disaster. And that's what we talk about when we say something is stupid or is a wise decision. It's not that "we can beat the odds" and do stupid things and "come out okay". That's not the aim for "making good decisions".
It's not that we say to others, "I know that, as a group, if we run red lights all the time, we will end up in a bad wreck, but I can do it so much better than anyone else, so I can get by and do it anyway, since I'm more capable of running red lights." That kind of thinking is plain stupid.
That would be similar to sending that 13-14 year old girl into a university environment and sub-culture of 18-24 year olds, like that and finishing off with her university education and getting her four-year degree, at that point in time (again, not talking about Post #125 ... which I agree with ...) -- and saying "She'll do just fine!"
Try to take a step back and look at the picture from another direction: A homeschooled teen has nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking CC courses.
I already agreed with the mother who said how she did it, with a few courses and with her kids. That's not the situation I'm talking about, you see...
See my Post #125 for my agreement on that limited involvement, with only a few course -- and -- with direct and immediate supervision.
But, that IS the situation we're all talking about. Ping to wintertime. Her children started CC courses at age 12 and 13. By age 18, they had bachelor's degrees. (Correct me if I'm wrong, wintertime.)
Star Traveler, with all due respect, you seem unable to understand that there are many different paths to success. As we've said again and again, it is COMMON for high school-age students to take dual-credit courses on community college campuses.
if you're talking about working at some research institution and/or being a brain surgeon or heart specialist, or getting involved in some of the advanced sciences, or working at a NASA facility being in charge of some space program and/or planning on advancing up to be Vice President in charge of a division or even CEO someday -- nope... I would stay as far away from Community College as possible ... LOL ...
How about governor of Alaska? ;-)
....And some people just arent meant to take advantage of that kind of education. If they're one of them, then that's fine. They just have to get by whatever way they can. Not everyone can be at the top... there's always got to be more Indians than Chiefs ...
In the example I gave, one guy (I grew up with) transferred credits from CC to a university, commuted to the university and entered its work co-op program, and upon graduation, was hired immediately as an aerospace engineer for a space satellite program in the mid-1980's. He had to pass security clearance and all. Starting out at a community college never hurt him. Last I heard, he had his own company.
I just remembered: There's another guy I knew who started out at CC. I lost touch and don't know if he ever went to a university, but I do know that he has his own company now, too.
Dr. Thomas Sowell never graduated high school. He earned a GED before entering Howard University and then transferred to Harvard. Where your education starts doesn't hurt. It's where it ends that counts. And it's what you do with it that really counts.
You're claiming authority on the subject based on relatively limited experience in Portland. I've always lived in and around the Philadelphia area surrounded by big-name universities. In Philadelphia alone, there's Drexel, University of Pennsylvania, Temple University. In the PA suburbs, there's Villanova, for example, and here in NJ there's Princeton, Rutgers, and so on.
What counts is whether or not you earned a bachelor's degree, which college awarded you that degree, and what your major was.
they will all shut down and be locked up tighter than a drum at night and on weekends, except for maybe a couple of classrooms (for some evening courses, if they have them, or the university library. There's no partying in those facilities. They're always locked up. The partying goes on in someone's house, or in someone's apartment
Well, no, that's not true. There are daytime events held on campus at universities that can get very rowdy. The university campus is very different from a CC campus. As I said, a university is like a community in and of itself. A community college - especially the suburban variety - has a very different type of atmosphere. (And there are four-year colleges with safer atmospheres, too, such as some of the Christian colleges.)
if that 13-14 year old girl only takes a few course here and there -- well..., she'll be "caught up in age" with the other students, in a few years and then she'll be "age appropriate" -- at that point in time to be able to take a full load of classes.
No, she'll be ahead of the game. Let's say she starts at 13 and takes just three courses each year: one in the fall, spring, and summer. By age 18, she would be in the second half of her sophomore year. Of course, at that point, she'd start full-time and, if she planned right, could have her bachelor's degree by age 20. Again, she has nothing to lose. And taking CC classes during the high school years is exactly what college recruiters are telling homeschooled students to do now.