There are certain instructors who argue that university is better than reg college, what do you say?

Question

One person in particular went as far as saying that an assosiate isn't really a degree. And others have said if you don't graduate froma university, you don't really have the smarts. What's your opinion?

Answer 1

Well, I started at community college and now I'm writing a dissertation for my Ph.D.; I also teach at both a community college and a university.  So, let me give you some perspective: community colleges are a way for someone to take his or her freshman and sophomore classes, usually before transferring to a university.  However, at universities, the freshman and sophomore classes are generally taught by Teaching Assistants (TAs).  TAs are graduate students (i.e. people who are still trying to get their Master's degree or people who have their MA degrees but are trying to get their PhDs).  In fact, I taught university classes before I even had a masters degree because I worked as a TA.  Now, at the community college, there are no TAs, just people who have earned at least an MA and, sometimes, a PhD.  Also, community college teachers tend to have taught for some time, whereas TAs might have never taught before and have, almost certainly, just started.  So, I would argue that in many ways, the QUALITY of education is actually BETTER at the community college.  Other benefits of community college are (1) they are SUPER CHEAP compared to a university ($13/unit vs. $200/unit); (2) some universities FORCE freshmen to live in the dorms, which, again, are crazy expensive; (3) community colleges are local and cater to the local population, so, for example, community colleges have weekend classes, accelerated classes, classes that begin at 6am, classes that begin at 7pm, one-day-a-week classes and so on.  Lots of people who go to community college also work or have families, so the college tries to be as flexible as possible in these respects.  Universities tend to have classes from 8am to 6pm either MWF or TTh, since everyone is usually 18 or 19 without jobs and live in the dorms.

As far as universities being "better," it depends on what you mean by "better."  I think I've demonstrated that in many ways, colleges are superior to universities.  However, if you want to leave home and have an experience like the one you saw in the movie Van Wilder, then the university is a "better" place to try and find that experience.  I was proud to graduate from a community college and transfered to a local university where I graduated as valedictorian and THEN got a full-ride scholarship to get my MA and PhD.  It would appear, then, that "Smarts," are not dispensed ONLY to university students.  In fact, I currently teach the exact same Intro. to Lit. class at a community college and a university.  Guess what?  The community college students regularly earn higher grades than my university students.  Why?  It is hard to say, but, in general, I find that the community college students appear to try harder, are more serious, and manage their time better than the youngsters at the university, who often times seem as if they don't care whether they pass or not.  So, I had the "smarts" and the CC students I teach have the smarts.

Finally, when one transfers to a University from a CC, the Bachelors degree that person gets is the same one that he or she would get if he or she began at that university.  In other words, if you go to "Redneck Community College" for 2 years and then transfer to Harvard, then your degree at the end of 4 years will say "Harvard"--it's the same one the rich kids got, except you saved about $120,000.  Here is the last point: getting into top universities straight from high school is really tough.  But, students have a MUCH, MUCH HIGHER chance of getting into their "dream school" (i.e. Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, Brown, MIT, etc.) as a transfer student from a community college.  Let's review: the quality of Fresh. and Soph. education is superior at a CC, it is cheaper, it is local, it is flexible, it raises one's chances of getting into a top rated university.  How is that not better?  Remember: This will be on the midterm...Class dismissed!

Answer 2

It depends what you want to do with your life, if you want to be a plumber or an electrician then a tech course is fine. Match the education to what you want out of life, rather than boosting your ego.

Answer 3

An associate's degree is granted from a 2 year college.  A bachelor's degree is a 4 year degree from a university.  A bachelor's is a better degree than an associates.  Community colleges are limited in what they offer.  Jobs are limited for associates degrees.  Many corporations do not consider them "enough of a degree" for employment.

http://www.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm  (you also see salary differences in the degrees)  

(retired IBM exec mgr/ psychology professor)