Education for a Changing World Should Change When the System Doesn't Work

by Bridget McFadden

As we become immersed in another round of registration at CCP, I find myself revisiting Community College of Philadelphia's mission statement, which states that we offer education to "all who may benefit." This vague statement has always troubled me in light of the dismal performance statistics for students who enter at the CAP A-level. I believe that the architects of Project II (now the CAP program) thought that most students coming in at the lowest remedial levels could benefit from an education that would lead to college courses. During my initial tenure here I believed that too. Yet after ten years of counseling students who come in at CAP A, I know that a significant number of students do not qualify as remedial students and will never be able to substantially benefit from the type of education we offer. Everyone who comes to the college should be given the opportunity to benefit, but when the evidence indicates they cannot, an alternative should be available, preferably through the college. Every semester when I register students for the second, third, and sometimes even the fourth semester of English 089/097, I begin to feel like a hypocrite offering higher education as a hopeful option. My experience shows me that, barring some unusual circumstances, most students who have trouble at this basic level do not have the capability to complete the goals they have set for themselves at CCP. They become remedial recidivists spending up to 6 semesters trying to reach college level. When they finally leave due to lack of perseverance, frustration, or lack of financial aid, they may have learned some things about punctuation, grammar, reading comprehension or critical thinking, but not enough to make a significant impact on the course of their lives. Sadly, many may leave with less integrity and self-esteem than they walked in with, realizing that once again the education system does not work for them. Those of us who bow down to the deity of Higher Education as the answer to life's ills are reluctant to admit that there are students who lack the intellectual, emotional or social functioning required for collegiate success. Yet the data tell us time and again that this is true for a good percentage of CAP A level students. When they do not succeed, we would rather blind ourselves and our students to these facts rather than to accept them for who and where they are. We continue to tell them to try again, and again, instead of offering realistic options. We as an institution also tell ourselves to try again and again to add programming to meet the challenges of these students. After all, haven't we told them that they can do anything they set their minds to? Yet, these students do not necessarily lack the potential for valuable participation and contribution in our society. In fact, their coming to college at all shows a willingness to be part of the process. When I see a student struggling at this level, I often speak to him or her about the future and try to offer reasonable options. However, if there are a host of appropriate alternative training or employment opportunities availablein the community to offer these students, I have yet to find them. There may be a small program here for hospitality training or a small program there for customer service training, but programs that meet a wide array of abilities and interests are hard to come by. Many proprietary schools have just as rigorous entrance standards as our college. I sit on several committees and boards devoted to the employment of people with disabilities, and there is a dearth of programs that prepare individuals for the world of work. Community College of Philadelphia advertises ourselves as "Education for a Changing World," yet why have we not changed the way we educate this group of students? I believe that as a community college, we should create a program that meets the workforce development needs of our students on a broad scale and focus on a few specific skill sets, such as computer knowledge, for one. This program would not fit neatly into our current developmental education structure and would probably be better housed in community services, perhaps in our new workforce development and technology facility. Students could be offered such a program upon placing below CAP levels or after not progressing in English 089/097. Therefore, this course would be more of a pivotal course designed to point students in the direction of college or workforce development. I would like to be able to offer honest positive guidance to students instead of the lesser of two evils, one of which is the false hope of attaining a college degree, while the other is the drifting off to some uncertain future. Since we already have these students on our campuses, our institution should play an integral part in bridging the gap between college and the no man's land into which we currently send our unsuccessful students.

© Copyright 2002. Contact author for permission   Maintained by Jay Howard, 25 Jan 2002