Community colleges

[draggar]

OK, why the hell do people have such a bad opinion on community colleges?

On another forum (not CS) there was a discussion about grammar and spelling and someone said to the OP:

"Go back to your community college where you are having slurpees and playing sonic".

In later posts they continued to bash community colleges and even myself after I told him I got my degrees at a community college. Luckily the mods closed and deleted the thread before it got to heated.

I don't get it. I've done both - big state university and a community college and I value my community college experience more than the big state university.

The community college had smaller classes and you could usually get in touch with the teachers if you needed. Good luck with that in my university (most of my classes were lectures - only a few were fewer than 100 students).

I was allowed to bring a friend to my classes if I wanted to (say they were visiting) and some did come with me, they admitted my classes were far better than the ones they had at their universities (including one person who went to Worcester Polytech - he loved my robotics class).

The state university I went to was more full of the partying type and many students who didn't want to go but had to go because mom & dad made them. You didn't have as much at the community college - most of the people there were trying to improve themselves.

They commented that community college students were lazy. There wasn't a single one of my friends at the CC who didn't at least have a full time job (I had a FT job, my internship, classes, and I still had time to be in the theatre).

I don't know what this perception of community colleges comes from, no one I knew there fit into it and it seemed that there was a much higher percentage of it at the larger universities (from what I saw and from what my friends tell me).

[Boozy]

I can't speak for all universities or all colleges, so YMMV. But in my experience, community colleges and universities require such different skill levels that the two are not even comparable.

Perhaps things are different in Canada.

[McDreidel09]

I think the attitude, and this is just a theory, that a student who goes to a CC doesn't want to leave home and therefore isn't independent. Since this attitude of "Leave the home at 18 and become independent," is really prevalent in our society, people tend to judge people who decide to stay at home.

I do have to say that the gen eds are the same work. One weekend, I went home and visited my best friend, Tattoo. He was in the middle of his math homework, which he was doing online. Tattoo showed it to me and it was the same program that I had been using at my school! In fact, when I went back, they were the same problems!

As I have said before, everyone is different. Some people prefer to begin with community college and then transfer. Others (like myself) just go to university. Personally, I would not have been able to handle attending CC because that means living at home and I want to be my own person and not live with my mom. Yes, I live with her when I go home to visit, but I'm not there at the end of the day. That and I would have had more distractions from homework because my sister and friends are there.

[AdminAssistant]

Perhaps things are different in Canada.

Not according to my observation, Boozy. However, I've said my piece about community colleges in the other thread. http://www.fratching.com/showthread.php?t=2307

[telecom_goddess]

I got my AA degree at a community college, never went to a university, and yet I find that it's only considered "some college", like it's not a real degree. And when I went I was way past leaving home...I was married and running my own home by then.

Though I have to admit my degree is in a field I have no contact with anymore

[Rageaholic]

It's academic snobbery, plain and simple. I have known people to diss me because I go to a community college and not some big name university. What they fail to realize is that I am only taking the general education requirements and intro courses at the community college (then transfering those credits to a U). Those classes which everyone has to take regardless of major can be taken for much cheaper there. Not only that, but I don't have to pay for parking, dorm, or any of those other extra costs.

It's a nice small college that's convienant for GE requirements, a short drive, and I don't have to live on campus, and I get dissed for that? And McDreidel, that attitude you described doesn't surprise me one bit as I've ranted about it here before. It's a shame people that don't follow the typical path have to be looked down upon by society. Quite frankly, I no longer give a rats ass about what society things of me. I am who I am.

[AdminAssistant]

I think the attitude, and this is just a theory, that a student who goes to a CC doesn't want to leave home and therefore isn't independent. Since this attitude of "Leave the home at 18 and become independent," is really prevalent in our society, people tend to judge people who decide to stay at home.

You aren't independent. If you're living at home with Mommy and/or Daddy, especially with them footing all the bills, you aren't independent. I absolutely think you should move out at 18, not only for your own personal development, but for your parents as well. They signed on for 18 years of taking care of you, not 25 or 30.

I grew the most as a person when I not only moved out of my parents' house, but when I moved a considerable difference away from home. And that's an experience I think everyone should have. It really helped me become my own person and experience things I never would have back home. And now, I don't think I could ever go back.

[protege]

Sorry folks, but "Community College of Allegheny County" doesn't have the same resume appeal that Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, etc. do. Think about it, are you going to hire someone with a degree from a school which takes everybody...or one that's much harder to get into? I've already gone on about how CCAC is a joke, and how nobody takes that place seriously.

Also, if you are still living at home, and not contributing towards the bills...you *aren't* independent. Granted, I lived with my parents until I was 30. But, I paid rent, I helped my mother out when I could (either with cash or doing work for her)...while working full-time, and then working for my grandmother on the weekends.

Compare that with the "parasites" (my father's word for my brothers) who are 28 and 31, still live there...and don't do shit.

[McDreidel09]

You aren't independent. If you're living at home with Mommy and/or Daddy, especially with them footing all the bills, you aren't independent. I absolutely think you should move out at 18, not only for your own personal development, but for your parents as well. They signed on for 18 years of taking care of you, not 25 or 30.

See, I wish I could officially move out, but I have to wait a couple of more months. Moving out wasn't an option for me right at 18 because I was going to live in a dorm a few months later.

I love having the freedom that I have now at my university. Although I don't work,except on breaks, and I get an allowance and help from my grandparents, I know that won't be for long because next semester, I will have a job to help out more. I hate the thought of my grandparents helping me,though. Makes me feel needy.

[AdminAssistant]

Makes me feel needy.

Don't feel that way. My parents did help me with some things through college, especially during the summer. (They didn't want me to work, as I was on a pretty strict scholarship and grades had to be a priority.) But, you're living on your own, basically, and taking care of your own day to day needs. Your folks are just kicking in some cash.

[guywithashovel]

You aren't independent. If you're living at home with Mommy and/or Daddy, especially with them footing all the bills, you aren't independent. I absolutely think you should move out at 18, not only for your own personal development, but for your parents as well. They signed on for 18 years of taking care of you, not 25 or 30.

I grew the most as a person when I not only moved out of my parents' house, but when I moved a considerable difference away from home. And that's an experience I think everyone should have. It really helped me become my own person and experience things I never would have back home. And now, I don't think I could ever go back.

I lived at home while I went to college, and looking back, I actually wish I had left home to go to college. There were times during my college years when my parents almost drove me completely crazy. I was in my early twenties and working almost full time hours, yet they still felt inclined to act like I was five years old.

[ArenaBoy]

OK, why the hell do people have such a bad opinion on community colleges?

Snobbery and a superiority complex.

And that's an experience I think everyone should have. I absolutely think you should move out at 18, not only for your own personal development, but for your parents as well. They signed on for 18 years of taking care of you, not 25 or 30.

Not everyone is ready to do that though. I'm one of them. I lived at home till I was 20 and then moved out. I was glad I waited instead of moving out right this second. I had some nasty personal problems that had I encountered when I was in another town, I would've ended up moving back home. Plus, I was not ready yet.

You're forgetting that people are different in terms of maturity. Also, what you're doing is exaggerating the age range. 25-30 is a completely different story. The average student will be 18-22, not 25-30. Yes, it's one thing if you have to move back home for a short time but that part about living at home at 25 I agree with.

What you also need to keep in mind is that some people can't afford to move out right this second. Sometimes living at home is the most financially viable option available at the moment.

Sorry folks, but "Community College of Allegheny County" doesn't have the same resume appeal that Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, etc. do. Think about it, are you going to hire someone with a degree from a school which takes everybody...or one that's much harder to get into?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...226150,00.html

It isn't about the name, it's about what you can do. The guy with Harvard on his resume may have an impressive school name but it means nothing if he doesn't have the experience to back it up.

[jackfaire]

You aren't independent. If you're living at home with Mommy and/or Daddy, especially with them footing all the bills, you aren't independent.

What if your the one that cleans the dishes, does everyone's laundry and short of cooking everyone else's meals (only making your own) your the one taking care of the house.

I even had a part time job and my schooling was paid for out of loans I took out in my name. Yes my parents paid the bills but I was basically a live in housekeeper.

[AdminAssistant]

What if your the one that cleans the dishes, does everyone's laundry and short of cooking everyone else's meals (only making your own) your the one taking care of the house.

You just pretty much described me after my sister moved out. I cleaned, did the laundry, and most of the dishes. They're called chores.

[elsporko]

If doing dishes, laundry and making food for yourself is on the same level as paying rent then I need to have a talk with my landlord. I do all of those and he still insists I send him money.