A Day at a Community College

As a blog writer I try to avoid writing about my own family, but in this case I felt it served a larger point. So please bear with me!

Today was the first day of college classes for both my daughters, Marisa and Ariella ("Ellie"). However, both girls were in Oregon for a family get-together, so were unable to attend classes the first day. Since both are dedicated students, they were naturally concerned about missing the opening remarks from their professors. Marisa only had one class scheduled today, but Ellie had three. After consulting with a few professor friends of my own, I decided to attend Ellie's classes for her today--hopefully demonstrating by so doing that we are a family that takes education seriously. I found it a wonderful and encouraging experience.

Ellie was partially home schooled, and graduated early, as did Marisa, so she is spending her first two years of college here in town at Forest Park Community College, an urban campus located within the city of St. Louis. Next year she will have turned eighteen and we hope to send her to a four-year college. In the meantime, she seems to have received an excellent education at the local level. She has always praised her instructors and the quality of in-class discussions and the relationships she has formed. I heartily agree with her after today.

I sat in on three classes: Sociology, American Comedy and Humor, and History of Jazz. I found the instructors to be engaging, open-minded and--thankfully, in this age of grade inflation--tough when they felt it was called for. The student body seemed respectful in class (maybe rowdy outside of class, but that is a different matter) and, as far as I could tell, serious and motivated. Each professor was well-prepared and professional, and seemed well-versed in his field. The English professor who taught the comedy class made no bones about the fact that his class would be demanding and that rules and policies must be obeyed. I have long despaired about the state of education in America, but today encouraged me.

The student body at FPCC is "diverse"--whatever that word is supposed to mean today--and clearly shows that urban education can succeed. This makes the failures of so many public school districts even harder to accept. FPCC shows that we can clean up education--but we must have the resolve to do so.

Increasing attention has been pointed to the fact that the overwhelming majority of college and university professors in the US lean to the left. I have no idea of knowing the leanings of the professors I met today, but I found them affable and, in my best judgment, open and willing to consider diverse opinions.

American education still has a long way to go, but I am better assured now that it still has a soul and a spark of life.

Thanks for reading.
Gary