Saving Community Colleges

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Saving Education The importance of postsecondary education has increased significantly in the last decade. A high school diploma is no longer sufficient in the 21st century. In order to be successful in today’s global economy a person must receive some form of postsecondary education certificate. In his book Back to School, writer and educator, Mike Rose emphasizes the critical role of community colleges in educating and training students and adults -who have been going through non traditional pathways to college- for the jobs needed to keep the United States economically competitive and morally urbanized. Community colleges serve as a crucial solution for overcoming one's personal hardships, helping get our nation out of the current economic recession, and building an educated society. As a refugee looking for knowledge and self-confidence, who is totally unaware of the US educational system, community college has become a golden opportunity that is available while other 4-year institutions closed the door on accepting me by demanding challenging requirements and high rate tuition. While watching or listening to education issues' debates, one will definitely notice the extreme focus on the economic benefits of having a higher education certificate regardless of any other social aspects. For many students education is the only way of self-reform. Rose emphasizes some of the possible dangerous effects of ignoring the moral and human values of education and explains how it will eventually lead to the loss of the real purpose behind education. Rose warns, “This is dangerous, for without a civic and moral core it could easily lead to a snazzy twenty-first-century version of an old and shameful pattern in American education” (141). Rose’s point is that we have to rethink the importance of education especially for lower-class vulnerable students and pay attention to the
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