Two Years Are Better Than Four

New York Times, September 26, 2007 12:00 am

Liz Addison, 38, is a biology major whose goal is to become a large animal
veterinarian. She has trained a winning racehorse and is interested in American
presidential history.
Oh, the hand wringing. College as America used to understand it is coming to an end,
bemoans Rick Perlstein and his beatnik friend of fallen face. Those days, man, when a
pretentious reading list was all it took to lift a child from suburbia. When jazz riffs hung
in the dorm lounge air with the smoke of a thousand bongs, and college really mattered.
Really mattered?
Rick Perlstein thinks so. It mattered so much to him that he never got over his four years
at the University of Privilege. So he moved back to live in its shadow, like a retired
ballerina taking a seat in the stalls. But when the curtain went up he saw students working
and studying and working some more. Adults before their time. Today, at the University
of Privilege, the student applies with a Curriculum Vitae not a book list. Shudder.
Thus, Mr. Perlstein concludes, the college experience a rite of passage as it was meant
it to be must have come to an end. But he is wrong. For Mr. Perlstein, so rooted in his
own nostalgia, is looking for himself and he would never think to look for himself in
the one place left where the college experience of self-discovery does still matter to those
who get there. My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set
foot in an American community college.
The philosophy of the community college, and I have been to two of them, is one that
unconditionally allows its students to begin. Just begin. Implicit in this belief is the
understanding that anything and everything is possible. Just follow any one of the 1,655
road signs, and pop your head inside yes, they let anyone in and there you will find
discoveries of a first independent film, a first independent thought, a first independent
study. This college experience remains as it should. This college brochure is not
marketing for the parents because the parents, nor grandparents, probably never went to
college themselves.
Upon entry to my first community college I had but one Olevel to my name. These now
disbanded qualifications once marked the transition from lower to upper high school in
the Great British education system. It was customary for the average student to proceed
forward with a clutch of Olevels, say eight or nine. On a score of one, I left school
hurriedly at sixteen. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, Everybody should have an education
proportional to their life. In my case, my life became proportional to my education. But,
in doing so, it had the good fortune to land me in an American community college and
now, from that priceless springboard, I too seek admission to the University of Privilege.

Enter on empty and leave with a head full of dreams? How can Mr. Perlstein say college
does not matter anymore?
The community college system is Americas hidden public service gem. If I were a
candidate for office I would campaign from every campus. Not to score political points,
but simply to make sure that anyone who is looking to go to college in this country
knows where to find one. Just recently, I read an article in the New York Times
describing a college application essay workshop for low-income students. I was
strangely disturbed that those interviewed made no mention of community college. Mr
Perlstien might have been equally disturbed, for the thrust of the workshop was no
different to that of an essay coach to the affluent. Make Life Stories Shine, beams the
headline. Or, in other words, prove yourself worldly, insightful, cultured, mature, before
you get to college.
Yet, down at X.Y.C.C. it is still possible to enter the college experience as a rookie. That
is the understanding that you will grow up a little bit with your first English class, a bit
more with your first psychology class, a whole lot more with your first biology, physics,
chemistry. That you may shoot through the roof with calculus, philosophy, or genetics.
College is the key, a young African-American student writes for the umpteenth
torturous revision of his college essay, as well as hope. Oh, I wanted desperately to say,
please tell him about community college. Please tell him that hope can begin with just
one placement test.
When Mr. Perlstein and friends say college no longer holds importance, they mourn for
both the individual and society. Yet, arguably, the community college experience is more
critical to the nation than that of former beatnik types who, lest we forget, did not change
the world. The community colleges of America cover this country college by college and
community by community. They offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope,
and an option to dream. In the cold light of day, is it perhaps not more important to foster
students with dreams rather than a building take-over?
I believe so. I believe the community college system to be one of Americas uniquely
great institutions. I believe it should be celebrated as such. For those who find it
necessary to go to a two-year college, begins one University of Privilege admissions
paragraph. None too subtle in its implication, but very true. For some students, from
many backgrounds, would never breathe the college experience if it were not for the
community college. Yes, it is here that Mr. Perlstein will find his college years of selfdiscovery, and it is here he will find that college does still matter.
(from: http://essay.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/two-years-are-better-than-four/?_r=0)