There are some real quality issues here. Community colleges typically have different missions than universities and colleges, and typically have lower admission standards. In addition, their teaching staff may have fewer qualifications than those at university. However, there is a tremendous pressure of public universities to accept community college courses in transfer. Which may mean that a student transfers into upper division courses at an university without having the actual content and experience in the prerequisite courses. Here are two real world examples. At the previous university where I taught, we accepted all community college courses. Typically, the first statistics course at a community college covered about half of what the first statistics course at the university covered. So, students who transferred with that first course were at a tremendous disadvantage. Naturally, the problem was the result of the transfer policy or the community colleges, but our expectations. Now, I am employed in an "integrated" system where the community colleges and universities are in one system. The first course in accounting at some of the community colleges uses the same text as the universities but they cover half the chapters that the university course covers. Yet the course transfers and the students' (and legislators') expectations are the course is identical.
So, I have reservations about this plan, because I see the real potential for further watering down of the university education even though this proposal does not directly address university education.
There are ways to mitigate your fears. When I worked in Student Support Services at a small community college, we had a very popular college transfer program. I think it was a good one too, but I'm biased. Anyway, when discussing a student's course of study, the first thing I would ask is what in your planned major at university. I would then speak plainly and say that they might no want to take those class at the comm. col. Get the rest of you general college course out of the way here, then do all your major classes at the university. If you have to do some of those classes here, you might want to audit them again once you get to university to make sure you are up to speed.
and lets be honest about university, shall we? If you are a communications major, are you really going to use or care about the freshman biology class you took? no one at university is taking four solid years of course in their major. half those years are time spent getting that well rounded liberal arts education that doesn't get you hired, And that is what most people want, to get hired, not to understand the intricacies of
Hedda Gabler.
