In praise of community college

In the past fifteen years, I have attended four institutions of higher learning.  These have included a community college, a traditional, four-year university, an all-women’s college, and an online university, and running counter to the Sarah Palin stratagem, I earned four different degrees in the process (an Associates, a Bachelors, a Masters and a teaching certification).

Considering the depth and breadth of my college experience, I like to think that I have a fair amount of knowledge and insight when it comes to secondary education.   

That said, I can assert without hesitation that the finest education I ever received was from Manchester Community College.  While the other three universities that I attended were all excellent, my community college experience exceeded them all. 

As a result, I wholeheartedly agree with Kay Ryan, the US poet laureate, when he said:

“I simply want to celebrate the fact that right near your home, year in and year out, a community college is quietly—and with very little financial encouragement—saving lives and minds. I can’t think of a more efficient, hopeful or egalitarian machine, with the possible exception of the bicycle.”

Of course, being one of the only men at an all-woman’s college wasn’t so bad either.