To the Editor
Most journalists form their opinions and write editorials based on research, study, and a thorough understanding of the subject matter. This was clearly not the case in the editorial of Jan. 24 entitled “Economic Summit Stops Short of Top.”
The suggestion that successes at community colleges are “just too isolated” indicates that the writer has very limited knowledge and did no research about the work being done at Connecticut’s community colleges. I’ll list a few facts that can be easily checked, if you still do that, to refute some of the erroneous and uninformed statements offered as your opinion:
• The precision manufacturing program developed at Asnuntuck Community College with state and federal funds is being expanded at several other community colleges including Naugatuck Valley in Waterbury, Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted, and Manchester Community College, Middlesex Community College in Middletown, and Three Rivers Community College in Norwich largely through grant funds from the U.S. Department of Labor. This is standard operating procedure that seeks to replicate success and meet student and state needs.
• Approximately one-third of community college graduates transfer successfully to four-year universities each year. In Connecticut they are helped by guaranteed transfer agreements with the University of Connecticut, the Connecticut State Universities, and numerous private institutions which make the first two years of a baccalaureate degree accessible and affordable. Many more students transfer even before they graduate, however, they are not considered in the federal definitions of graduation rates.
• The community college mission is to serve the needs of students whether they are looking for liberal arts degrees as preparation for transfer and continued education, career and occupational preparation or advancement, or to keep pace with changing technologies. The mission also includes remedial education for students who need higher education to become economically self-sufficient, so they can pay taxes, but who don’t have the basic skills needed to succeed in college courses or to find jobs in the 21st century knowledge economy. Far from “jumbled,” it is a mission based on the needs of students and the state for public higher education.
• Approximately 65 percent of our faculty are adjuncts who bring real world experience into the classroom and who represent a cost savings for colleges that enables them to serve the growing numbers of Connecticut students who turn to community colleges for affordable access to the benefits of higher education. Courses run at community colleges from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. to offer convenient schedules that fit the needs of working students, and we are the largest provider of on-line courses in public higher education in Connecticut.
• Connecticut is the only state in the nation to have its community colleges receive funding in four rounds of the competitive USDOL community-based job training initiative. Each grant brought federal funds to Connecticut to develop curriculum and capacity to educate students in nursing and allied health, manufacturing, and energy, each a workforce shortage area, to support the state’s economic development by upgrading the skills of its workforce. That is only one of many examples that speak to an agile, responsive, and valuable resource for the State of Connecticut and its economy — from top to bottom. What we may lack in charm, we make up for in commitment to making a difference in the lives of students. Now that’s charm, and the successes are legion, not isolated.
Mary Anne Cox,
Assistant Chancellor
Connecticut Community College System
