Secondary Readings:
Kyle Spencer’s “In College and Homeless”
Karl Strikwerda’s “Community Colleges are Good for You”
Overview: Community colleges have come under increased national scrutiny in recent years. While nearly half of the nation’s college freshmen now attend community college, graduation rates at two-year institutions are often lower than at four-year colleges. Despite this, college students are choosing community colleges in high rates and often plan to transfer to four-year institutions after finishing their coursework at a two-year school.
Essential Questions
Why did you decide to attend a community college?
Where would you like to transfer after you complete your work at CCBC?
Do you agree with any of the points made in the Bellafonte’s essay? Why or why not?
Your essay should touch on each of these issues, ultimately creating a thesis (typically found in the first paragraph of your essay) that states why you are attending CCBC and how the reading for this unit has influenced your opinion of community colleges.
Prompt: Ginia Bellafonte’s New York Times article discusses the difficulties of one community college student, Vladimir de Jesus, and his experience at a two-year college in New York. Your essay should include discussion of why students (like de Jesus, yourself, and other community college students) select community colleges, the experiences students have at the community college, and some of the difficulties students face in transferring to four-year institutions from community colleges. Kyle Spencer and Carl Strikwerda’s essays will also provide evidence-based support that can be useful in addressing the issues that face community college students across the U.S.,