Comments on: Community Colleges: Are New Cutting Edge http://citiwire.net/post/1615/ Our mission... to reflect a new narrative for 21st century cities and regions. Leaving behind the 20th century pattern of cheap energy, endless automobility, burgeoning suburbs, threatened inner cities. To a challenge-packed 21st century: energy prices headed north, perilous carbon emissions, deepening have-have not divisions, excruciating social problems and deep challenges in education. But a time of exciting promise, too. Fri, 10 Sep 2010 03:18:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Richard Tindal http://citiwire.net/post/1615/comment-page-1/#comment-1083 Richard Tindal Sat, 09 Jan 2010 20:47:07 +0000 http://citiwire.net/?p=1615#comment-1083 I fully endorse your position with respect to community colleges and the educational alternative that they provide. I was a Professor of Government for 30 years in the community college system in Ontario, Canada. That system was introduced in 1967 and has been a great success. Enrolment has expanded greatly – at a higher rate than university enrolment in some years – and most graduates readily find work in their chosen field. One problem, not surprisingly, has been the unwillingness of universities to recognize college courses, making it difficult for those who want to go on to university after a successful college career. Those barriers are now gradually breaking down, with more and more agreements between specific colleges and universities that define how credits are recognized and how much course work is still needed to complete a university degree. I have always found the division between college and university education most unfortunate, since each type of institution does some things very well and students can benefit greatly from having exposure to both. This combined education has often occurred in one direction, with university grads coming to a community college for a specialized diploma. In fact, I seem to recall that about one-third of the students at my college had a prior university degree or at least some years of university education. But the reverse flow has been a much more difficult proposition (at least until recently). Cheers, Dick Tindal I fully endorse your position with respect to community colleges and the educational alternative that they provide. I was a Professor of Government for 30 years in the community college system in Ontario, Canada. That system was introduced in 1967 and has been a great success. Enrolment has expanded greatly – at a higher rate than university enrolment in some years – and most graduates readily find work in their chosen field.

One problem, not surprisingly, has been the unwillingness of universities to recognize college courses, making it difficult for those who want to go on to university after a successful college career. Those barriers are now gradually breaking down, with more and more agreements between specific colleges and universities that define how credits are recognized and how much course work is still needed to complete a university degree.

I have always found the division between college and university education most unfortunate, since each type of institution does some things very well and students can benefit greatly from having exposure to both. This combined education has often occurred in one direction, with university grads coming to a community college for a specialized diploma. In fact, I seem to recall that about one-third of the students at my college had a prior university degree or at least some years of university education. But the reverse flow has been a much more difficult proposition (at least until recently).
Cheers, Dick Tindal

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