Together we see the road, but alone we walk it

Twitter Blog #2 10/06/2014

From infancy until we graduate high school, we are constantly reminded that getting an education will open a realm of possibilities. However, too often does the reality of life create a barricade for the aspirations of many young scholars. For Vladimir de Jesus, this was all too real. From dropping out and not returning for four years to having a child and failing a math course three times, Vladimir was fighting for his academic survival. Even though professors would comment on his academic ability and push him to reach his true potential, he would always fall short. Losing his mother and having a child that his father did not approve of only showed the tip of the continental iceberg of adversity he was facing. Sadly, millions of other students must ordeal these circumstances and most of them must do so alone or with little help.

Like Vladimir, community college is one of the best viable options that a student under such predicaments can take. Community college is supposed to be an alternative that gives these students a paced trajectory to getting a degree. For many however, the community college route can indeed transform into an overly elongated solo mission. One example of how this occurs is being financially responsible for one or more children. An astonishing 29 percent of community college students are parents. Going further, a growing trend of unmarried parents has been seen over the past years; as much as fifty percent of unmarried parents attend community college and make up about 17 percent of the community college population. More than one third of them reporting that they work 30 plus hours while attending college (Goldrick-Rab & Sorenson, 2010). These students have colossal pressure to not only achieve academically, but also make sure their child is doing the same. These two factors (work and children) are far more than enough to delay any person from graduating in two years with an associate’s degree, and even longer for a bachelors.

Too add on further, many of these students are first generation and low-income. According to the story of Valdimir, La Guardia Community College has more than 70 percent of students surviving on 25k or less a year. Take into account that some of them have kids and the livability of their conditions worsens. In the article evaluating Obama’s new rating system, the study found that many students who fall at or below the 25th percentile of the income quartile said that staying “near home” was one of their major college choice indictor compared to the other quartiles (ACE, 2014). The same was true for first generation students (higher percentage) and non-generation students (lower percentage). Staying close to home sometimes is not a personal preference but a need that a student must consider.

With all these constricting factors, there are still possibilities for these students to achieve and pursue their academic aspirations. One of the options discussed was having one or more “coaches” to guide these students in the direction most appropriate. Within the article at LaGuardia, there was an increase in retention and academic performance for those who received such coaches. This leads to the next possibility, which is some sort of reconstruction of the remedial courses (Bettinger, Long & Boatman, 2013), which tend to compromise of low-income students. With Vladimir taking this course three times and failing all three times, the “remedial” part of “remedial” courses needs to be reevaluated. Another option would be to simply just have more options. For example, having schools offer rigorous and relevant vocational education programs to build on the individual interest of the students (Rosenbaum 2010). In this case, the idea of “getting an education” is not synonymous with getting a bachelors degree.

These are possibilities that can help negate the long academic journey many of these community college students must tread through. However, they are not a remedy to what really has to be done. The students who do not fit the traditional mold must be in the talk of educational reform. Only then can we not only show them the road, but also help guide them through it. Until then, many of them will have to walk alone.