Introduction
The American government has in the past sought to ensure that as many of its citizens get access to higher education as possible. This is in an attempt to ensure that there is a skilled workforce to match the demands of its main economic drivers, the service and manufacturing industries (Scherer and Anson, 2014). As such, higher education policies formulated have moved to ensure that community colleges which are the majority in the country reach out to even the rural area inhabitants. Similarly, an agenda has been set towards ensuring that students enrolled into community colleges are able to pursue chosen courses to their full completion.
The unfortunate reality is that a multitude of students eager to get enrolled into these community colleges are unprepared for such educational experiences (Scherer and Anson, 2014). The zeal to attain a college degree and unwittingly also acquiring huge debt in pursuance of college education. In the book titled, Community Colleges and the Access Effect: Why Open Admissions Suppresses Achievement, the authors discuss the above mentioned issues as well as others to great length. The authors Juliet Lilledahl Scherer and Mirra Leigh Anson are both accredited higher education professionals. Scherer is an English professor at the St. Louis Community College while Anson is TRIO Upward Bound director at the University of Iowa.
The two authors have vast experience teaching in community colleges (Scherer and Anson, 2014). As such, they take the opportunity to reveal the negative outcomes of community college students with little hope of attaining college degrees. They not only become debt ridden, but also fail, leading them into actions with heartbreaking consequences. In a single phrase, this book calls for better preparation for students before applying for courses with community colleges and subsequently being admitted therein. This paper seeks to present a book review on this book titled Community Colleges and the Access Effect: Why Open Admissions Suppresses Achievement by Juliet Lilledahl Scherer and Mirra Leigh Anson published in 2014 under the Palgrave publishing banner.
Book Review
Open Access is a Deception
Scherer and Anson (2014) argue that the presumably progressive open-door admission policy for the country’s community colleges is simply a spiteful hoax and as such, only serves to perpetuate inequality. Given that there are very wide social economic disparities all across the US. This implies that there is a very broad divide in the manner with which people from either side of the divide prepare for admission to tertiary institutions (Scherer and Anson, 2014). Similarly, the ability levels of such individuals, though this is subject to other factors also serve as disadvantageous to people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.
Open access entails offering an eligible curriculum as well as financial aid but the authors decry it as nothing more to an extended false promise (Scherer and Anson, 2014). Community colleges have been common in the country for a very long time, but it was not until five decades ago that these higher education institutions opted for more student friendly course packages. Today, most institutions will carry out an assessment for each individual new entrant to match students with very poor skills to courses that they can pursue to course completion (Scherer and Anson, 2014). As a result, extended developmental educational programs began that allowed for acknowledgment bearing coursework to be accorded to students in a manner almost comparable with kindergarten fare.
The book point at published research studies to provide that adults admitted to community colleges with basic skills tend to now and then persist towards completing the two or four yearlong courses (Scherer and Anson, 2014). The open access policy has therefore attributable to some good degree of secondary-student inertias. The result is a compounded degree of poor college readiness coupled with low completion rates (Scherer and Anson, 2014). Even as the country seeks to appraise postsecondary outcomes, the open access policy has not been addressed by the American people as a policy which present anything other than positivity and opportunity to these students’ lives.
Indeed, the US is in an era where college going is considered as basic. The unfortunate outcome according to Scherer and Anson (2014) is that it is not as good in practice as it is on face value. For some quota of community college students, the outcomes are commendable but for some the results are devastating. As such, the book provides that it tends to present some simultaneously occurring and devastating injuries on a number of students (Scherer and Anson, 2014). The situations are even worse when students armed with poor information enroll for programs that are way beyond their completion capabilities especially for the socioeconomically challenged groups. Given that such groups form the largest portion of the American society, then the best option towards realizing positive outcomes from this policy is by ensuring students are offered ample academic preparation as well as postsecondary completion strategies. As the book provides, if this is achieved not only with the students be better placed to achieve desired results but the American people will benefit immensely as well (Scherer and Anson, 2014).
The National Completion Agenda for Colleges
The agenda has been cited as threatening the development of secondary students in a big way (Scherer and Anson, 2014). One of the more significant ways is the apparent fixation on enhancing completion rates at the expense of academic standards. Similarly, the agenda also presents situations where other viable postsecondary avenues which could otherwise have been the most appropriate for a given student based on unique abilities, goal and interests are disregarded (Scherer and Anson, 2014). Advocates for the completion agenda are as such, placing too much emphasis on sequences associated with developmental education. They cite this as the basis for students failing to complete credentials prepare academically and possess the aptitude as well as motivation vital for success (Scherer and Anson, 2014).
In other words, the book suggests that the national debate on the development of postsecondary education should focus on asking the fundamentally appropriate questions to evade reaching incorrect conclusions (Scherer and Anson, 2014). It is these incorrect solutions which result in catastrophic policy selection. On this note, Scherer and Anson (2014) provide that there should be rational community college entrance standards. These should also be supported by a compassionate approach towards advising students before enrollment. This will definitely exponentially increase postsecondary outcomes ensuring student success and by extension, equity gains (Scherer and Anson, 2014). For most educationists, this can be considered as the best approach as it will not in any tangible or intangible manner affect academic standards.
The book also points out that the agenda associated foundations as well as other intermediaries have come to occupy federal and state policy formulating tables (Scherer and Anson, 2014). The result has been a situation where America’s numerous educators’ voices are drowned by the big money megaphones of the agenda movement. The outcomes are significant decisions being implemented while failing to consider the interests of the American student whose future is solely dependent on a robust public education system (Scherer and Anson, 2014).
Addressing the National Completion Agenda for Colleges from a different Perspective
As the author’s point out, indeed, the completion agenda advocates have championed for greater attention to the importance of community colleges (Scherer and Anson, 2014). Conversely, they have also sought to ensure improved rates of student success and thus, brought about some commendable positive change. The authors provide that audiences should not attach student success as a role of the community colleges (Scherer and Anson, 2014). More so, they provide that the degree of effort expended by administrations as well as tutors in these institutions have for over the years ensured that postsecondary education truly translates to the development of the greater American society. These institutions focus on the excellence in teaching. Unfortunately this strength has also come to be noted to be a major misgiving. This misgiving is founded on the precinct that too much emphasis on excellence has resulted in their failure to look into ways to source for resources for research. These institutions have failed in carrying out rigorous cross-sectional longitudinal research on the institutions themselves and more importantly, on the students (Scherer and Anson, 2014). As a result, these institutions rely heavily on outside research which if conducted by community college researchers would structure better questionnaires and more significantly, research questions. This would therefore result in enabling stakeholders more closely towards adopting those policies and institutional practices that result in genuine improvements in postsecondary student success rates (Scherer and Anson, 2014).
The Emphasis for Novel Admissions Standards
There is an inherently strong association linking student motivation or engagement to academic achievement. One interesting rejoinder in the book involves a math faculty member had under instruction from the departmental chair been called upon to lower the standards to appraise success rates (Scherer and Anson, 2014). This disclosure further added that it was necessary so that the institution could maintain or raise the present budget in accordance with the new performance funding formula.
As Scherer and Anson (2014) provide performance based funding and open access are incompatible. Similarly, the decay of academic standards will only result in a well-known outcome. Compromising academic standards to attain constantly improving rates of successful student completion exposes the institutions to manipulation. As such, given that the US is a universally competitive nation in an outcome influenced setting; such practices will lead to the extinction of community colleges resulting in long-term unwanted social consequences (Scherer and Anson, 2014).
Community colleges are affordable and boast wide geographical accessibility (Scherer and Anson, 2014). These institutions are therefore believed to be the best pathway through which the country can ensure the desired employment rebound and by extension economic development. The authors thus provide that the laissez-faire approach to community college education as projected in the open access policy presents a hugely negative outcomes concerning post-secondary student successes (Scherer and Anson, 2014). As such, Scherer and Anson (2014) describe this policy as unfit for use in the 21st Century. They book proposes that educators as well as policy makers with the students interests at heart should look to appreciate the different benefits possible if sensible entrance standards are adopted. This can work better if considerate approaches about offering sound advice before enrolling college students to community colleges. The outcome would most probable include a genuinely successful postsecondary student educational outcome and greater equity gains (Scherer and Anson, 2014). More importantly, academic standards will suffer no chance of enervating.
Alternative Education Paths
Socioeconomic mobility as well as other significant quality of life effects is closely associated with a person’s levels of postsecondary education. Scherer and Anson (2014) point out that this is what makes it so important to ensure that the public education system stakeholders should redouble all efforts towards preparing each capable student for optimized college success. This cannot be universally said for each and every student but a number of alternatives exist. These alternatives are based the postsecondary individual’s varied and unique needs (Scherer and Anson, 2014). For instance, job training programs as well as apprenticeships can serve these students well and in future prepare them financially for college or even university courses. Short term training initiatives can allow them to choose a career to develop and further more plan on (Scherer and Anson, 2014). By extension they can be able to attain independent life skills such as personal health and safety as well as money management skills.
Conclusion
As this paper has provided, postsecondary education is perceived by the US government as pivotal for greater economic development and a well skilled workforce. Given that the community colleges possess unique attributes such as an unrivalled geographical distribution there is the need for stakeholders in the public education system to work towards ensuring completion as well as success rates are at optimum levels. This book has therefore placed an emphasis for the stakeholders associated with ensuring such desirable outcomes work incorporate more student success and completion initiatives that can supplement the present open access policy for greater equity. As such, reasonable entry level examinations for skills assessment can ensure courses match the individual needs of students.
References
Scherer, J. L. & Anson, M. L. (2014). Community colleges and the access effect: Why open admissions suppresses achievement. Basingstoke, UK, Palgrave Macmillan.
