Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges • Hacker News Board

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#91

Post by mixmastamyk » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 5:40 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #78

bogomipz wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"That's exactly what I am saying. I think we would be better off if we treated Software development like a trade that had a two year up to date curriculum that actually prepared people to be hit the ground running at a company." So you see no reason for schools to produce people with well-rounded educations? You don't feel its important for society to have adults who have a wide-ranging perspective on things like li…

Isn't that what they are doing in high school? And it's not just about software development, most college curriculumns could be more focused into a two year degree.

Unfortunately, having a two year degree with experience still gets your resume thrown in the trash at the first step of the funnel. Ask me how I know. Doesn’t make sense fir most jobs but there it is.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#92

Post by nvarsj » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 5:42 PM UTC

I went to community college because my family was "middle class poor". Income just too high to qualify for grants or scholarships, but too low to afford to send me to university (for various reasons).

Community colleges are great in many ways. They provide a low cost option to get a four year degree. They give a second chance if you messed around in HS. It's less competitive to transfer into a top tier public university than it is to apply out of high school. Community colleges are more diverse - you'll meet a lot of older, experienced people, people working full time, and all ranges which just isn't possible at elite universities. Community colleges in California can also pay teachers more than the corresponding UC - so you'll find UC professors doing classes at the local college to make extra cash.

However, I would always recommend to go to a single university for 4 years if you can afford it. Some of the teaching quality in community colleges is just atrocious, unfortunately. A close friend of mine transferred into the UCB physics program, and he really struggled - the undergrad math prep at community college was a joke compared to what most of his fellow students had done. I also believe it's better to experience the full curriculum as intended. And there can be huge benefits to the dorm life.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#93

Post by rayiner » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

bogomipz wrote: post #76

scarface74 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what I am saying. I think we would be better off if we treated Software development like a trade that had a two year up to date curriculum that actually prepared people to be hit the ground running at a company. Yes, I'm advocating the modern equivalent of "Java Schools".

>"That's exactly what I am saying. I think we would be better off if we treated Software development like a trade that had a two year up to date curriculum that actually prepared people to be hit the ground running at a company." So you see no reason for schools to produce people with well-rounded educations? You don't feel its important for society to have adults who have a wide-ranging perspective on things like li…

> You don't feel its important for society to have adults who have a wide-ranging perspective on things like literature, philosophy, history, art and non-computer science

If you can’t teach the necessary fundamentals of that in high school that’s a problem with you’re K-12 system.

The idea of a “well rounded education” is the result of the middle class trying to ape the leisure classes, who went to college to learn things they didn’t need to support themselves financially.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#94

Post by rayiner » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 5:58 PM UTC

I don’t understand all this talk about “connections” made in 4 year colleges, as if that’s a good thing. Isn’t it intensely anti-meritocratic and something to be discouraged, not encouraged?

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#95

Post by xexers » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:01 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #94

I don’t understand all this talk about “connections” made in 4 year colleges, as if that’s a good thing. Isn’t it intensely anti-meritocratic and something to be discouraged, not encouraged?

> Isn’t it intensely anti-meritocratic and something to be discouraged, not encouraged?

Life is not fair. You may as well learn to play the game as the rules actually are as apposed to what they "should" be.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#96

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:05 PM UTC

CuriouslyC wrote: post #16

I went to a community college and transferred to a prestigious public university. In my experience, if you find a good community college, the high volume classes tend to be better than they are at a big school. There are usually less than 50 students (vs up to 400), the teachers actually enjoy teaching, and the material is easy enough that the teachers understand it just as well as top tier professors. Honestly, Cali…

[deleted]

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#97

Post by SubiculumCode » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:06 PM UTC

My science and math classes were much more rigorous at my community college than they were at a major 4-year university. Yes, there are a lot of fluff courses and people at community colleges in respect to an aspiring academic and/or professional, but in general the science and mathematics courses are filled with serious people. AND SO MUCH CHEAPER.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#98

Post by a2tech » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:07 PM UTC

Its time for the country to stop watching television and thinking thats how they should be (almost everyone on television either lives an upper-middle class life, or is a terribly smart poor person). Most Americans CAN NOT afford college right now-not without going so helplessly in debt as to be a wage slave for the rest of their life (or even worse cash out their parents hard won gains to pay for their useless degree)

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#99

Post by SubiculumCode » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

nvarsj wrote: post #92

I went to community college because my family was "middle class poor". Income just too high to qualify for grants or scholarships, but too low to afford to send me to university (for various reasons). Community colleges are great in many ways. They provide a low cost option to get a four year degree. They give a second chance if you messed around in HS. It's less competitive to transfer into a top tier public univers…

My experience at a community college was quite different. The physics professors were known to kick people's asses but you learned a lot, and the math courses ->calculus were really good. However, not all classes had the same level of rigor. I took grammar course at the community college, and all we did was watch videos of flying saucers with the instructor going on and on about the conspiracy cover-up. WTF, it was a grammar course. So a mixed bag.

Re: Middle-Class Families Increasingly Look to Community Colleges

#100

Post by SubiculumCode » Sun, Apr 08, 2018, 6:19 PM UTC

your-nanny wrote: post #49

Community college gave me transfer agreement to UC Davis. I went to UCLA instead, though I think I would have happier at Davis. Anyway, at UCLA, all the most motivated students went to community college first (the ones in the department undergrad club, the one in honors research programs, the ones who eventually got phds)

Did the same, but went to Davis. Transfer agreements rock. Now I got my phd at Davis.