Thinking about the Scope of Community Colleges

As I pull things together for the AACC convention in Philadelphia, I decided that maybe I didn't fully understand the scope of community colleges in our country, even though I am a advocate for them and participant in one of them. So I went to the AACC website and found these amazing statistics. I wonder how many of my peers are aware that there are almost 1200 colleges and 11.5 million students involved in this sphere of education in the US.


From the AACC website:

Community College Fast Facts

Number and Type of Colleges:
Total: 1,195
Public: 987
Independent: 177
Tribal: 31

Enrollment:
Total: 11.5 million
Credit: 6.5 million
Noncredit: 5 million
Enrolled full time: 41%
Enrolled part time: 59%

Inaugural Post

Why this blog? The Inaugural Post

Why do I need to write on another blog? I'm not sure of the answer exactly, but it somehow seems linked to a song entitled Teen Angst, by the band Cracker

I don't know what the world may need,
but I'm sure as hell that is starts with me.
And that's a wisdom,
I've laughed at.

I don't know what the world may want,
but a good stiff drink it surely don't.
So I think I'll go and fix myself a tall one.

Cause, what the world needs now
is a new kind of tension.
Cause the old one just bores me to death.
Cause, what the world needs now
is another folk singer
like I need a hole in my head.

And so forth... To the greater question, why does the world, or more specifically my world need another blog for contemplating, commenting, and tracking issues concerning community colleges and my minute role in that world?

I am on the eve of attending the AACC (American Association of Community Colleges) conference in Philadelphia with a team of administrators and trustees from the community college I work at. A blog seemed like a good medium to explore some of the issues I see and hear presented at the conference as well as a visit we are making to Cumberland Community College in Vineland, NJ.

But I have a feeling that this forum may evolve into other questions and concerns. I've been associated with Clark College in Vancouver Wa. as student, staff employee, adjunct instructor, full time instructor, and, most recently Division Chair for 20 years. It has given me a unique perspective of community colleges, which I believe is one of the most important educational components we have active in this country and one I'm pleased to be a part of.

And the aspect of community colleges that I can be among the most passionate about is the issue of access. Community colleges could easily adopt the old slogan of The Whole Earth Catalog that used to accompany that NASA picture of Earth, maybe taken from Apollo 8, ACCESS TO TOOLS