There are a lot of myths about community colleges, formerly junior colleges. So we tried to set the record straight with an Editorial Board with Community College of Allegheny County President Quintin Bullock.
I learned that community colleges could be a very critical and important key to bridging the gap between urban Blacks and quality employment, thus pulling urban Blacks out of poverty. But how do we get the message to them?
For years community colleges, or junior collages as they once were called, were locked into certain myths that may have been true in the past but are not true today. Some of the myths were:
Community colleges are considered to be just for those who didn’t pull good enough grades to be accepted to a four year college.
All the good jobs go to the four-year grads.
Most four-year colleges don’t accept community college credits.
Most employers don’t take community college grads seriously.
I have been saying for 20, maybe even 30 years that high schools and colleges should be working side by side, hand in hand with businesses in the city, and country to make sure that once a person graduates from either they are headed into a career.
Education for education sake is crazy. The ole saying, “they can take everything else but they can’t take away my education.” What good is an education, and all that debt you accumulate getting it, if there’s no good paying job at the end?
What Bullock said was that CCAC is working very closely with the corporations, big business and small business as well as the county and city government to make sure the courses being taught at CCAC relates directly to the western Pennsylvania and national job market.
So they sit down with local and national businesses, this includes unions, to find out what is needed in the training of our young people or re-training our adults, to fit the job market.
One of the biggest obstacles to a college education is the cost. This includes small schools like Indiana University of Pa., Slippery Rock, Robert Morris, Carlow College, Point Park to name a few in this area, so you can imagine what schools such as Pitt, Ohio State, Penn State etc., cost.
When these students graduate they are facing a huge debt, which they in most cases must start paying back within six months, with interest and late fees. So if they haven’t yet found a decent paying job you can imagine the burden of trying to pay rent, utilities, transportation, and food plus school loans. No wonder there are so many college grads still living with their parents.
And no wonder so many youth are choosing to bypass college. But those that do bypass college generally end up with low-paying, no-future jobs if any. Community college, if handled properly, could be the answer.
The two key options are committing to two years to get an associate degree which will land a good paying job, or a two year associate degree which will be accepted in a four-year college program which will lead to a good paying job.
Why an associate degree instead of just taking courses? Because according to Bullock, just taking courses isn’t very productive, because some or most of those courses may not be accepted at the school the student chooses to go to. But if the student works with a counselor, knowing what field they want to go into or what school they want to attend, the counselor can help them pick the proper courses that will be accepted.
One of the biggest problems in the Black community is the lack of education of its young people, especially young Black males. Well, here’s our opportunity.
But first we need to get rid of the negative stigmas we have toward community colleges. First of all they aren’t the 13th grade. They are the best avenue middle and low income Blacks have of moving out of poverty which has become the norm in the country’s urban communities.
But it must begin at the high school level, and not a student’s senior year. Our young people must begin to be exposed to the various careers available to them. Maybe if we start training and educating our youth at younger ages we would have fewer hanging on the street corners gunning down each other for nickels and dimes.
Even though I went to a junior college my first year I never realized just how important they were, and are, to today’s education and survival of the Black urban communities.
I went because I couldn’t afford a four-year school. Wow, isn’t that the same problem today?
The key to all this is having some idea what you want to do in life at an earlier age. We as parents, extended family, friends, and concerned citizens need to start questioning our youth in school, church, home, or streets. “What do you want to do with your life?” And if the answer is “I don’t know,” then supply some suggestions. But if they do have some ideas then have them run it by their high school counselors or local community college.
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)Â
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