this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024

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Unpopular Opinion

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Community college is a joke and shouldn't preclude entering a 4year as a Freshman. (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Community college ostensibly for people who don't have a good track record from High School, but is often advertised as the cheap, local option for people who don't want to feel bad about having to go.

I did in fact try community college and it's really just high school material with smaller text. I even took it in parallel with an edX equivalent and the material wasn't even close to each other. The idea that CC is suppose to replace the first 2 years at a real college is terrifying and reinforces how much of the professional word is theater.

If you do any number of years at a community college, you should be able to apply as a freshman to a real college if you want.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Good unpopular opinion, because it's a horrible opinion.

There are many reasons to go to a community college over a college to start out.

I for one struggled with a full university and failed out my first year. I wasn't used to the workload, and I was used to more 1 on 1 attention from teachers in high school. Universities are the exact opposite, massive 1000 person lectures, TAs with barely any time to work with you. I went to a community college because I needed something to help me grow into being a college student.

Community college gave me smaller class sizes where I could actually ask the professors questions. It gave me opportunities to talk to them after hours, and ask questions. They were more accessible and took an interest in helping me succeed. After 2 years, I went on to finish my full degree back at a full sized university 2 years later.

and we haven't even talked about the cost. I spent about $2k on community college per semester. University wanted 15k per semester, and that's not even including books/food/housing.

Take it from me. That was all over 10 years ago that I was in college and doing that. What you're saying is a trope - it's arrogant and it's definitely coming from a standpoint of "Pushah, you aren't at a university, you're not even on my level". As a full university graduate who now is well into his career, doing pretty dang well, I firmly can tell you that this entire way of thinking is wrong, and arrogant.

People learn differently. That does not mean they are stupid, or that you are smarter. Some people absorb through reading, others through auditory, I was someone who needed examples and through question/answer. I learned the exact same information, but the difference was I had professors who took the time to make sure I understood the subjects, and gave me the tools to learn differently in university later.

Without community college I would have failed out like the standard 40% of the class did in the standard university classes. Community college got me standing upright again when University failed me. I graduated, and I am better because of it.

Edit: Out of curiosity, I went through your history and found your post:

I’m in a catch 22 situation. I want to go to a four year college, but I was previously placed in the remedial track and have a poor academic standing. If I go to a community college, I could improve my grades, but the material they cover is a replacement for high school classes and I’d be precluded from signing up for entry classes at the four year college. This seems like to would put me at a disadvantage when that finally happened and I would only be setting myself up for long term failure.

Friend, Community College is not where stupid people go. Going to community college, even after a university, is not a failing. It feels like a gut punch, trust me I went through it. It was a vastly different experience compared to university. If I'm making assumptions, you're facing something similar to what I was before.

You can keep thinking the way you're thinking, and refuse to actually try community college. You can fail out of a university and somehow think by not going to a 2 year school that you were still better. Or you can suck it up, accept life changes things, and adjust. I personally built a plan, and I knew going in that it was temporary, and that I would work my way back in, and I did.

This is 100% on you. There are no excuses anymore, there's no one to lay blame at this point. If you're truly facing this, then this is 100% in your head, and you need to figure out how you want to make your goals a reality. Maybe shitting on community college isn't really a long term plan. Maybe accepting and getting help if you need it is. I don't know, you have to decide.

I can speak for the last part: "This seems like to would put me at a disadvantage when that finally happened and I would only be setting myself up for long term failure.". This is absolutely not true. I have never once, in my entire life, had anyone ask me if I went to community college. Not that I'm shy about it, I'll happily tell people, I'm not ashamed of my past, but it doesn't come up. Colleges really try to convince you that your GPA and transcript matter. It really honestly doesn't. Maybe for your first job. I've never had anyone ask to see my transcript, my GPA, or any details about my college beyond selecting "B.S. Degree" from a dropdown.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I didn't go to CC, but two of my friends in college did. They were mildly embarrassed about it, but I told them they were smart for taking prerequisites for a fraction of the cost.

Thanks for your long thoughtful comment. The CC stigma has never made sense to me. I was a dumbass in college, but one of the few things I'm proud of was always being supportive of my two CC buddies.

[+] [email protected] -6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What you’re saying is a trope - it’s arrogant and it’s definitely coming from a standpoint of “Pushah, you aren’t at a university, you’re not even on my level”. As a full university graduate who now is well into his career, doing pretty dang well, I firmly can tell you that this entire way of thinking is wrong, and arrogant.

What I'm saying is my experience. I tried Bio110 at my local CC while taking an online high school, an edX course, and a Great Courses lecture series. The CC material was below the even the high school material.

People learn differently. That does not mean they are stupid, or that you are smarter. Some people absorb through reading, others through auditory, I was someone who needed examples and through question/answer. I learned the exact same information, but the difference was I had professors who took the time to make sure I understood the subjects, and gave me the tools to learn differently in university later.

My CC was a joke. I had a small classroom and did not benefit from it. No one was really interested in it. They were just the summer session students looking to fill their requirements. One morning, I was the first person in the classroom and overheard the teacher shit talking the regular session students for being dumb and the summer session for being disinterested. This same person also recommend looking for easy topics to do projects on and didn't accept growing Biobutanol because the school didn't have the material. I wasn't even planning on using the school's lab for it.

I even tried the next closes CC and was denied the class I wanted to use as a trial because I tested out of it.

If I could do 2 or even 4 years at a community college, only have it be viewed as a high school replacement, and apply as a freshman, I would have done that. Every policy I find don't allow that. In fact, I'm reaching out to some staff at one university I'm on good terms with to see how much of a hard policy that really is.

As far as cost effectiveness goes, I know way, way too many people who pursued college, any college because they were told that it's what they need to do and are now paying off loan payments(if they didn't get it forgiven) in careers unrelated to their degrees. For me, this was never about cost effectiveness.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You're doing a lot of comparisons to other people in your classes. Why do what they're doing have any effect on your success? Who cares if they aren't paying attention, or aren't learning? What are you doing in those classes? Why are you wanting to do easy classes you can test out of when instead you could be taking harder classes?

Idk man, everything you put out here is screaming "I don't want to like community college because I belong elsewhere", and like I said, those thoughts reside 100% completely in your own head. Either go to a 4 year university if you can and be happy, or deal with it if you aren't being accepted to colleges and make a plan. Going online and trying to demean community colleges and comparing yourself to the lower mortals in these classes is not going to help you.

Maybe stop worrying about how other people are doing or how you're going to be viewed about where you went, and just make a plan on how you're going to actively achieve what you want to.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You’re doing a lot of comparisons to other people in your classes.

The CC teacher was the one judging the other students. She was outside the class and didn't realize I was already there when I over heard her shit talking her students. The other teacher she was talking to didn't feel the need to correct her. It was disgusting to hear. The only one here I'm judging here is her.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I'm sorry you heard it, but unfortunately professors are people too, and I'll tell you that's not unique to community college. That's something that you will find at all levels, even full universities.