The Many Important Roles of Community Colleges in Students'
Educational Needs
At one
time, the major role of community colleges may have been thought to only serve
the purpose of ensuring the students transfer to a four-year college or
university after they graduated. In some ways, it can probably be still
argued as being true, however, I do not believe this to be the case at
all. In my opinion, community colleges serve several missions, and are
certainly not limited in any way whatsoever to the role stated in the argument
above. First of all, I do believe community colleges have both
historically and currently played an ever-increasingly important role in
remedial education, or preparing students for higher education should they so
desire it in the future, but this is only one role of many. I also
believe that over the past several decades, it has been the community colleges
who have indeed 'served the community' in that they have trained hundreds of
thousands of prospective workers in some manner of technical or workforce
training courses. Mechanical and/or technical (including computers,
electronics, lithography) training courses have been paramount in community
colleges, and have most definitely contributed to the resounding success of
these institutions over the years. Without the valuable technical
training terminating in a two-year degree, many prospective workers could not
have acquired necessary and compulsory skills, and ultimately could not have applied
for and been accepted for the types of jobs which require a specific skill
set. Community colleges were, at one time, the only answer for the
workers who needed this type of specialized training. Now of course,
there are many private schools who also offer courses of the technical nature,
but at a much higher cost. Such 'training academies' or other schools who
offer the same types of technical skill classes as a community college boast
about their high success rates, but initially fail to inform the prospective
student that their courses will cost them more than twice or three times the
amount of money than they would pay at a community college. One advantage
of the other 'high priced' training academies is that their curriculum is often
times taught at a faster pace, allowing the students to graduate sooner than
the two-year courses offered at community colleges, but the high price will
most certainly discourage some students, especially those from a lower income
bracket. The convenience of the community college is very desirable indeed
when one sees the price tag associated with the private technical
academies!
Many
community colleges nowadays have altered their mission to serve the citizens of
their 'communities' to allow for the career-technical education learners to
study in at a pace that also allows them to continue working at their current
jobs, either full or part-time. The convenience that community colleges
afford their working students is something that assists tens of thousands of
students every year. Many community colleges also have online components
to their day and/or evening courses which allows for even greater flexibility
and convenience for its working students. As an important aside, I would
also have to comment that it is easier to obtain "in-house" funding
assistance for a community college than it is for a private technical academy,
because many employers are more inclined to contribute partial or complete
funding to their employees seeking higher education through a local community
college. This makes the community college an attractive possibility for
workers who wish to improve their job skills or train for a higher-paying or
better position within their current company.
To
conclude, I strongly stand by my opinion that the major role of community
colleges nowadays is not merely to ensure that their students transfer to
four-year colleges or programs. I believe that is just one of the many
roles that is included in the vast number of roles that are actually being
played by these remarkable institutions. As a person who once attended a
community college initially, without the incentive to continue onto higher
education afterward, I can also argue for the other side. However, I have
chosen to argue against the statement because I have witnessed the evolution of
the community colleges in the different cities and states that I have resided
in over the years, and realize that the community college of today plays a
far different role than the community college of yesterday.
Zoe Marlowe
