Just so you know, my good friend has had great success with community college, and is happy with the results though not always thrilled with the process. So here goes…
- Calculus professor drops the f-bomb every sentence.
- We chose a prof that was a homeschool graduate instead – he ended up coming to our graduation party. Great guy.
- Physics prof used marital positions to describe physics principles.
- Luck of the draw – we didn’t get him, but my friend did.
- Music class book said “I capitalize Self because I was taught to capitalize the name of God” and instructed class to say mantra each day “I am good, I am great, I am God.”
- We declined to take that class.
- French class showed movies with unclothed people for culture.
- No-go.
- Speech class teacher and curriculum was OK, but another student did a speech on the religion of sex (no kidding.)
- This teacher did take Alex under her wing and provided him great opportunities.
- There were no economics courses that were at my student’s level.
- The poli-sci classes were taught by a Marxist.
- He did write a very nice letter of recommendation, though.
My students were well prepared for college. Within the first 2 weeks of college, they had done all the reading and completed all the assignments they could. They both spent the next 6 weeks learning how to be lazy, and get A’s without trying.
On the bright side, the community college did have an honors program. If you add additional coursework (teach a class, give an extra speech, write an additional paper) then you could get “honors” after the course. That helped a bit.
We couldn’t find many classes that would challenge my son and at the same time not offend our faith. That meant my poli-sci son Alex spent most of his time in engineering physics and math classes with his brother. I’m glad he liked differential equations, LOL!
I wrote an article in the last newsletter about perfectionists and community college. Here’s a link on my gifted ed page:
In addition, we noticed that for the first time, my kids encountered people who didn’t want to learn. People there thought passing meant over a 0.7 gpa, and that a 2.0 in a class was good. People didn’t speak up in class, even when they knew the answer. The academic preparation was very low.
I go to a lot of college fairs in my business. One community college took me aside and said “Please tell homeschoolers not to send their young children to community college! We have adjudicated people in the classes!” She said felons, including predators, were known to be on campus, and they worry about innocent homeschoolers.
I live in very liberal Seattle, but I’ve heard these same things from a mom in Oklahoma.
I asked my son if he thought community college had been a mistake. At the age of 20 he said “YES!” If I could do my life over again, I would have homeschooled college for two years, not one. Community college wasn’t worth the cost of “free” education.
I think those are all my stories 
I firmly believe that parents are the only ones qualified to make decisions about their own children, though. I can provide information from my perspective and experience, but each one of you knows what is best for your own child.
Do you have your own community college stories you’d like to share?
Curious about other options besides Community College? Check out my “How To Homeschool College” website and learn more.
Related posts
- Is Distance Learning Leading you Astray?
- Last Call for College Visits!!
- Can My Homeschooler Take the SAT as a Senior?
Christianbook.com Curriculum Page
Yvonne says:
I’m terribly sorry you had those experiences at community college. They sound like experiences friends of mine have had at major Florida universities and currently one very well known Christian college in California. (Now that story is really shocking to me. A Christian teaching secular humanism, telling sexual jokes, etc… It’s crazy!)
Our own personal community college experiences have been a mixed bag. I had really good teachers in some classes with VERY hard working students…and they were extremely difficult classes. There is no way students would have been able to read through a book and then do nothing for the rest of the semester. I can’t even fathom that from the experiences that I had in CC.
The students in most of my classes were hardworking and we would often get together to study…in a productive manner. (Unlike my husband’s experience at the University of Florida…where study sessions were sometimes a disguise for a party. He quickly learned it was best to study alone.)
But I also had some poor teachers…one who was foreign, couldn’t speak clear English and verbally chastized his class for not being able to understand him. I dropped his class quickly.
Overall, we’ve had good experiences. All of my husband’s cousins graduated from the local community college and went on to a four year university. (In Florida a community college graduate is immediately accepted into the university of their choice.) One cousin rose to be the president of a bank. Three other cousins are teachers. My dearest friend graduated from the community college with an R.N. degree. The local program here is very competitive and known for it’s rigor. She graduated and has done very well. She is an oncology nurse at the local university’s cancer center.
So Lee, I think community college can be a mixed bag…just like all schools. Community College is not always “where people end up when they can’t get into a real school.” Sometimes they attend because parents don’t think they are ready to go away and be completely independent. Or perhaps it is to save money. Perhaps a student is more average and unable to win a scholarship? In that case, it’s perfectly acceptable for them to attend a community college to save money.
After thinking about this a long time, I think it boils down to following God’s will for any particular family. Parents should be diligent, prayerful, asking lots of questions, visiting, speaking to department heads asking for their best instructor’s names, etc… Even before registering for a class, I would often ask around, “Who is a good teacher and why?” But I found the best way to a great teacher, was to ask the department head.
I’m looking forward to hearing what other’s might say on this issue. Great topic, Lee!
June 15th, 2008 at 8:37 am
J W says:
Oh my goodness! I went to the most liberal university in the state of Texas and didn’t encounter anything nearly that bad with the professors and other instructors!!! Many had “interesting” views, but for the most part, they were great teachers. Among the students, true jerks were the exception to the rule – even some of the most “interesting” students were by and large civil. Whenever people at our church in Texas found out my alma mater, I always got gasps and horrified looks. I wonder what they’d say to all this?
June 18th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Katherine says:
We are at a liberal arts college on Ohio with a Christian background and our son, now 15 has been taking computer programming classes. He started taking the classes at age 13 and he has not had the problems that you have mentioned but maybe it is partly the subject. Thank you for letting us know about these possibilities. I never imagined it could be so bad! Besides his computer classes we are planning on enrolling him in a chemistry class. Our main concern about sending him to college is pushing him too hard and stressing him out. Since these grades apply to his college transcript we are concerned that they could bring down his college GPA. On the other hand, we don’t know where he will go to college and are not sure what credits will transfer so we are trying to only choose classes that will meaningfully augment his high school curriculum. Thanks for the chance to share these thoughts! We don’t know many in this same situation. It is very new to us!
July 23rd, 2008 at 1:59 am
Lee says:
Katherine,
When my boys started at the university, it was significantly better. They go to a small liberal arts Christian college, and we love it. The community college they went to was a public school community college. Thanks for your comments!
Blessings,
Lee
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:17 am
Harriet says:
Our experience was absolutely opposite of the one you had. With a younger student we’ve encountered absolutely nothing negative in several years of college courses. Faculty and students have been uniformly respectful and kind. The one thing we may have done differently is to be very careful from the beginning in our selection of courses and faculty.
While it is unfortunate that you had a negative experience I hope that your readers won’t conclude this is a typical or universal experience because what you are describing is very different from what I’ve heard from every single parent I’ve spoken to about this issue. For MANY, MANY homeschooling students college in high school is a great way to allow them to go further, to be challenged and to cover subjects in a way that would be difficult at home.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Sheri Lindquist says:
Oh, yes, we encountered much of the same thing you’re talking about Lee. The plus of so many home schooled kids in the Jr Colleges, is that you have a base of knowledge to pull from. We were able to locate the conservative teachers, like you did, and skip some classes. The online classes were a big help too. And yes, not many advanced classes so it made my son’s college education last much longer than it would have otherwise. I believe Harriet’s experience must be quite rare. I’ve never heard anyone who has had a similar experience in 10 years of inquiry.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Denise M says:
My oldest daughter is at a community college now. She has been very pleased with her classes and teachers. She is a dancer and artist. The only trouble has been that one of her art classes had a nude model on time. She managed to sit where she could only see the back of the woman. She said it was uncomfortable.
Another family I know, has two children at a different community college. They have been pleased with the education they are receiving.
My son’s godfather is an instructor at our local community college. He said that the problem is some of the students…using drugs in the bathroom. Some of the teachers don’t like having high school students in their classes and will make life rather hard on them. There is a charter school on the campus of the college so high school students are a pretty common thing.
I think something else you need to keep in mind, colleges are mostly liberal. I happen to be Catholic and if you want a solid, conservative, Catholic education, you have to stay away from most of the Catholic colleges out there. I went to a Jesuit run university for a while, and I didn’t even realize that one of my professors was a priest until halfway through the class. He had us call him by his first name even.
You are going to get the good with the bad anywhere. Just because it has a Christian or Catholic name on it, doesn’t guarantee that it is going to be worry free the same way that a public institution automatically means that it is going to be a bad experience.
Making sure you do your research, just like Lee describes in one of her talks, is so important. Walk around and see how the students are dressed. I think that is one of the most telling indications.
February 25th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Lee says:
Denise,
Thank you so much for sharing such concrete examples from you own experience! I really appreciate you explaining what has happened to your students and friends. Good tips!
Blessings,
Lee
February 25th, 2010 at 10:18 am
julie says:
At age 15 my son took 2 semesters of foreign language at our local 4-yeat state university. There were a lot of hurdles to jump in getting him accepted (as a non-degree-seeking student) but it has been an excellent experience for him. He says he feels he has finally found educational “peers”.
It is a bit of s special situation, though, as the language he chose isn’t a traditional one (no major or minor available for that language) so the students taking it are there because they are especially interested in learning it.
He plans to take 2 more semesters next year which, (unfortunately) is the last level they offer. He also plans to take a Programming class–we’ll see if the students are as eager to learn there, or not
June 5th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Amy says:
It is unfortunate that your children had such a series of bad experiences with community college! How long did they attend for? Was there a reason why you opted to continue past the first semester when it was such an unsafe environment for them?
June 21st, 2010 at 11:20 am
Mia says:
You lost me when you equate having a political science class taught by a Marxist with a professor using the F-word.
If a student disagrees with Marxist theory, there’s no better opportunity to exercise that disagreement than scholarly debate in a class taught by a Marxist, and I’ve never met a Marxist who wasn’t willing –if not eager–to engage in such debate.
On the other hand, a professor using crude language is creating an unpleasant and professional atmosphere, to everyone’s detriment.
As a student, I would feel free to complain to administration about cursing, examples involving sexual positions, etc. but I didn’t homeschool my kids so they could run scared from Marxists or nudity, thanks.
June 21st, 2010 at 6:29 pm
carol says:
Wonderful thought-provoking article and comments. My son has signed up for 4 local community college courses so far. He is 17. I felt there were a LOT of hoops to jump through to get him in and that the ‘counselors’ did not communicate with us well at all…seemed very disorganized and made me feel quite unwelcome. On our first day on campus a bright, neon,moving sign welcomed in large letters any homosexuals or bisexuals to a support group. The two math courses he has taken have gone well. The writing composition course had a long time professor whose every other word was a curse word, much to the amusement of most of the class. He made the decision on his own to drop that course immediately. He has one more math course to take this coming spring semester. That has been our experience with the local community college. It has been nice for him to get dual high school/college credit for free but the books still run about $150. a course and are not included in the ‘free’ part….so clepping out may be more cost effective for some learners even when you need to pay for the test.
December 30th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Kathy says:
What a great topic! My daughter and son have both attended a variety of programs. My son is at a local vocational school during half the day and does traditional high school work the other half. Our daughter primarily attended public high school, but was accepted into our local community college at at 13 because of a very high ACT score. We opted not to send her, but she did attend a regular college summer session at age 16 at Colorado College through a program called Southwest Scholars. She lived on campus, ate her meals at their student union and attended classes in Chemistry and Chemistry Lab. It was a very positive experience, but I can certainly see why parents are concerned about these environments. She outpaced almost all the college students and came out of the course with a high “B” grade, which later transferred to her own college transcripts. Thanks for starting this post!!!!
December 31st, 2010 at 8:10 am
Diane says:
My dd is using our community college system, and it has been great. The teachers, for the most part, are excellent, and concerned people. I have found the environment educational as well as the classes. Yes, some of the students don’t study, but that has brought up discussions about the diversity of ability – both innate and self-perceived. Some of the students don’t speak up in class, but that brought a discussion about why and what he wanted to do as an individual, not a follower, what his choices are and why he would want to exercise them.
As far as issues with vocabulary, and content which might/is inappropriate, well, soon these ‘children’ will be adults, and out in the world. I think that CCs are a good, safe training ground for them to decide how they want to handle this stuff.
As for felons on campus, the truth is that felons are everywhere. Teaching our children how to handle themselves in various environments, knowing to call for help, avoid areas, use security guards, and police, etc. are valuable tools we could all use being reminded of. I recently called the police to ask which was the best route for my son to walk from the campus to the train station. The police told me that he should take a cab. Stunned, I later learned that none of the areas he would have had to walk through are safe.
Anyway, my son is enjoying his Cc experience, and benefiting greatly from it. I would strongly recommend using this system.
March 18th, 2011 at 5:13 am
Jill Farris says:
When we lived in Idaho where there was not a state funded high school completion program that allowed students to go to a Community college for “free”, our daughter had a good experience with her community college. The classes were small and the teachers took a lot of time with the students.
In Washington state with the running start program we have been appalled at the standard. Our daughter did a very poor job writing a paper and got an “A”…her standards have gotten lower on her academic work.
Jill
March 24th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Karleen Mauldin says:
Thank you so much for showing the “bad” side to college classes! Some folks in our area really push those dual credit classes — which to homeschoolers, means you travel to the college and take classes there. Yes, many times the classes are full of homeschool students, and many teachers are good. But we’ve also had some families have very bad experiences!
April 7th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Amy says:
We had an excellent experience sending our daughter to community college. However, we only sent her for one class per semester. She took computer programming at the local technical college beginning her freshman year of high school. She loved it. She loved being around people who were older and not involved in teenage snottiness. The people in her classes were there to learn to get a job, not just because college was their next step in education, so they were a pretty motivated group. That said, I don’t think it hurts a kid to be exposed to some possibly unsavory language, images, or ideas. Kids need to learn there are other ways of being and thinking. That kind of broadening of their little world is good. Difference needn’t be scary or shameful, nor should sex. And if young Christians want to do any mission work, they need to move out of the choir and into the streets. Better they know what they’re getting into, and what better time to expose them to the streets than when their parents can help guide them through it.
June 4th, 2011 at 11:37 am
JJ says:
So sorry that you had poor experiences at CC. The experience of our three boys was excellent. Of course, a few instructors were less than stellar, but most were very dedicated and quite talented. We have been thankful that we could get so many credits in such an affordable way as they transitioned into higher ed and the “real” world.
July 13th, 2011 at 7:44 am
June says:
Just want to share a different experience: my daughter went to our local community college for 2 years, taking 1-2 classes each semester. She did experience the lazy student, the emotionally unbalanced student, the politically too-passionate student, etc, but she loved 2 of the professors and liked the 3rd. (Each time she’d tell me about these other students, it gave us opportunity to discuss the issues involved and I think helped her be better prepared for life.) She loved being part of the discussions in classes; her professors each wrote her glowing recommendations for college, and we just found out last week that the 4-yr univ. she’s about to attend has accepted all 17 hrs that she took! Definitely a positive experience overall.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:49 am