Blogs/Opinion: Page 16

Blogs/Opinion

Go Where Talent Is

Seattle’s technology industry has a diversity problem. While tech companies have publicly committed to changing their hiring practices, people of color and women are still being left out of what feels more and more like an exclusive club. Only one in five STEM workers identify as black or Latino, and less than 25 percent of […]

Blogs/Opinion

“Blind Auditions”

When “The Voice” premiered in 2011, it distinguished itself from other televised singing contests by featuring a blind auditions phase. Contestants had 30 seconds to sing their hearts out while four rock-star judges sat with their backs turned to them. During that short 30-second interlude, each person had the opportunity to lure one or more […]

Blogs/Opinion

Grow Population

Community colleges, like Fulton-Montgomery Community College, have a complex mission. FM’s reads: “Fulton-Montgomery Community College provides accessible higher education and quality programs with a focus on student success. FM partners with the community through engagement in economic development and by providing cultural and intellectual opportunities.” The key point for this essay is the partnership with […]

Blogs/Opinion

Fix Houselessness

Being a sanctuary campus does not mean merely washing hands of direct involvement in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. It means providing a safe space for everyone in the community to live and contribute meaningfully to the governance of the community, regardless of how stigmatized they are. Whether we are talking about first-generation immigrants or […]

Blogs/Opinion

Ballpark Funds

The Peralta Community College District, which owns the land in Oakland where the A’s want to build their new ballpark, is facing some tough financial times. The district’s financial reserves have shrunk by more than $12.7 million since 2015, leaving it with only $7.7 million in savings. That amounts to 5 percent of Peralta’s operating […]

Blogs/Opinion

College Optional

A Georgetown University study suggests 65 percent of all jobs in the U.S. will require more than a high school education by 2020. Hence it is clear that much work needs to be done to narrow the educational achievement and economic opportunity gaps in the U.S. In addition, there is the sobering statistic that only […]

Blogs/Opinion

Alternative Math

In my 27 years as a mathematics professor at Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), I’ve taught every math course typically offered at a community college, from basic skills through calculus. I’ve also taught every type of student you can imagine. Like the courses I teach, my students run the gamut — each requiring unique […]

Blogs/Opinion

Right to Expression

At the Oct. 19 St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees meeting, a professor was tackled and removed from the public hearing. He was being sanctioned for having questioned the board’s banning of applause for those who spoke against a plan to replace many full-time faculty with part-time instructors, while encouraging applause for administrators who […]

Blogs/Opinion

Barriers to Training

The earnings associated with postsecondary education vary significantly based on one’s major and career path, among other things. Some certificate and associate degree programs in technical and allied health fields at community colleges can result in higher earnings than some bachelor’s degree programs. Despite evidence that vocational subbaccalaureate certificates and degrees have a relatively high […]

Blogs/Opinion

Playing Games

Elected officials love to christen and launch their government programs with pretentious titles that imply a gravitas or nobility of purpose that’s often dashed on the sharp rocks of political reality. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda, for example, hasn’t turned around our dystopian Statehouse; the Chicago Housing Authority’s Plan for Transformation hasn’t transformed the lives […]

Blogs/Opinion

Free Speech Zone

America’s colleges should be bastions of free speech, places where ideas can be freely expressed, exchanged and debated. On too many college campuses, this expectation is thwarted, with free speech often restricted by arbitrary administrative regulations. One local example is the case of Pierce College student Kevin Shaw, who dared to distribute copies of the […]

Blogs/Opinion

For-Profits vs. Community Colleges

If there’s been a villain in higher education over the past several years, it’s been for-profit colleges. Money-grubbing rip-off artists, they are! Meanwhile, their antithesis, at least conceptually, has been community colleges—cute, low-cost, community-based institutions. Yet according to the headline for a piece by New America’s Kevin Carey, the latter have been “underappreciated.” Is this […]

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