state schools bigger=better

[CPL.Luke]

I have some thoughts on the community college system in the US that I'd like to here your oppinions on.

 

so right now in many states there are dozens of small community colleges that offer verpoor curriculuums, few courses, and in general just cause problems for their students once they transfer to a larger university that demands a far higher level of rigour in the school work.

 

 

So my question is wouldn't it be better if states built larger campuses to accomidate all of the students? by the basic principle that a larger school is a better funded school, and can offer more diverse classes, and provide for a better experience than a small community college.

 

In order to pay fore these larger campuses the school could absorb the funding that normally would have gone to the community colleges and then agree to admit a certain numbr of students from that county every year.

 

any thoughts?

[Bignose]

I have no idea what the percentage is, but there has to be a pretty significant percentage of people who are working at the same time they are attending the community college and really need to have a schooling option nearby instead of across the state. The cost of schooling isn't just in the school itself, these students would have to incurr the costs of moving and rent in a different (quite possibly much more expensive) city.

 

Not to mention at least nearby here, the community college does a fair amount of community service stuff, like running several bands (at least 2 jazz bands, 1 classical band, etc.) and teaching other adult classes like quilting classes.

[swansont]

Sometimes the "large school" is not the experience the student wants or needs. Community/commuter schools serve a useful function. Not all of them demand less rigour than larger schools.

[CPL.Luke]

I've been to a community college, and it demanded a rigour level less than that of highschool, and i've heard the same story about every other community college i've known of. People get out of the CC and head to the university and they practicly fail out because the CC hadn't prepared them, and in fact a lot of them do fail out.

 

i've heard the statistic that only about 20% of CC students will eventualy get a bachelors degree, mostly because of the gap between CC and university.

[MyThai]

bigger will lead to more expensive which defeats the whole purpose of going to a community school for most.

[ecoli]

I've been to a community college, and it demanded a rigour level less than that of highschool, and i've heard the same story about every other community college i've known of. People get out of the CC and head to the university and they practicly fail out because the CC hadn't prepared them, and in fact a lot of them do fail out.

 

i've heard the statistic that only about 20% of CC students will eventualy get a bachelors degree, mostly because of the gap between CC and university.

 

 

Of course, everybody will react to an experiance differently. Anecdotally, I know people who have very succesful coming out of a community college. And, I have one friend who's in an honors program at a community college, and his work load/ difficulty seems to be on par with mine, and I go to a division one state university.

[Genecks]

It all depends on the students and the teacher. If the teacher can't teach a wide, varied audience, then the teacher sucks. Therefore, the students will suck, too. Primarily because they haven't been guided correctly. It'd turn into a scenario where the teacher expects more than he or she taught. Not a good scenario.

 

I figure most things depend on a teacher with wisdom and intelligence. Such a teacher can be a leader and an organized one. Smaller would help, but being able to deal with a crowd would be a good idea.

 

The trick is to control students and make sure all succeed. That's why I think student-teacher conferences are a good idea.

 

I don't do an honor's program. I wouldn't bother. It's a bunch of BS, anyway. More work? Why?! I can study and surpass my peers in more ways than one. I already do. I could establish my credibility, but I don't like being cocky. Someone from the University of Chicago recently called me a sociopath. She didn't feel like giving me the title of megalomaniac.

 

I wouldn't want to waste another hour in a classroom. I already place my voice recorder on the table, ignore the professor, study, and play it back twice as fast when I get home. This is my way of saying college is a waste of my time and I wish it went *faster,* not harder.

 

Waste of time if you ask me.

 

So my question is wouldn't it be better if states built larger campuses to accommodate all of the students?

 

No!

 

Apparently, you haven't been in college that long. To answer your question, the way to fix these problems is to make a standard. By "standard," I mean a way for people to say, "The material covered in that course in College X is equal to the material covered in University Y."

 

I recently took a religion course, which was very philosophical and taught by a priest. He had a lot of knowledge in the subjects, and he did various jobs for people and taught them religion. He didn't teach them Christianity, mind you. For example, he would go to Chinese persons' homes and teach their children Chinese religions. He taught various religions to various people, and he taught various religions to us students.

 

Now the problem is that I got a hold of a document from another philosophy professor saying there was going to be a meeting about that course with staff from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I got this hand-out by accident. I took the liberty to read it on my own, and the professor wasn't too happy about me reading it.

 

The meeting was whether or not that course was the same as "course z" offered by UIUC. The meeting took place, and the people from UIUC said, "No."

 

I talked to the professor the next day and asked, "Why is that?" She said, "Because they have a superiority complex."

 

My premise is because that university is more of a business than an academic center.

 

However, I know very well the course is the same freaking thing in both places. And I know if I were to take it at UIUC, it would be the same freaking thing. And that's why I'm angry that the same freaking thing isn't accepted.

 

by the basic principle that a larger school is a better funded school, and can offer more diverse classes, and provide for a better experience than a small community college.

 

Wrong. Sure, it might help the social scene, but people can't strive for individuality that well. Also, larger classrooms mean less time for the professor to reach each person. That's why I always talk about professors being more organized. After being in college for two years, I've learned something: For having a PhD or Master's, professors are unwise, unintelligent, and lazy.

 

i've heard the statistic that only about 20% of CC students will eventualy get a bachelors degree, mostly because of the gap between CC and university.

 

See, that's one of the reasons. That statistic signals to the professors, "Not many of your students are going far in the future. Therefore, don't waste too much time on them."

 

In other words, professors start to see various students as uncaring degenerates whom won't make it far in the academic world. And I dislike those types.

 

Professors don't care to spend much time on their students. A larger amount of students is only going to make sure each student DOES NOT get his or her own time with the professor.

 

In order to pay fore these larger campuses the school could absorb the funding that normally would have gone to the community colleges and then agree to admit a certain numbr of students from that county every year.

 

Wrong. Many colleges are already in debt. They have money to spend, but they aren't going to spend it on the students. Nope, they rather find a way to make more money with their money. And that means not spending it on the students. Rather, they have the students find ways to become natural-born MacGyvers and improvise all their academic needs.

 

It's true. I've seen it.

 

It somewhat angers me because of the whole determinist vs. freewill thing. In other words, you must teach someone how to be MacGyver. Afterwards, that person can choose whether or not to be MacGyver.

 

If you don't teach that person, then expect the person to never get there. However, if the person goes through trauma, psychotic experiences, etc., then the person will take free-will and teach one's self. Then again, something like that doesn't happen when you're cooped up in a safe environment such as college for two years. It doesn't exactly work that way, and that's why I find a lot of professors to be fools. I hate intelligent fools.

[CPL.Luke]

I take it you go to a CC?

 

One thing I learned in my jump to University is that a number of professors (by no means all) are far smarter than I am at the moment. I didn't get that at my CC, perhaps you like I need to go to a full university.

 

Why does a large school equal large classes? maybe in the 100 level courses, but in the upper division courses they can still be small, for instance my techniques course only has 15-25 kids in it, I can and have gone over to the proffessors office several times in order to have more time on a homework problem, and there is also a SI instructor who does a review session twice a week.