For god's sake, the name alone sounds cool as hell. Like if I didn't know about them,
But in the US, they're treated like a joke. It's a punchline to drop out. I can't think of a story where somebody transferred from a community college, either to save money or use the time to think on a major.
Elitism in academia isn't a new thing with Ivy League nepo baby factories, or the STEM-Lord Cinematic Universe, but the disrespect for local schools is incredible.
Finishing community college and not going on to another university, for whatever reason, is great, and perfectly valid on its own. It's not a failure.
The way the US works is stacked against people going to college if they can't afford it. Like what sick shit is that? Education shouldn't be an investment opportunity. It's not supposed to be a business risk.
Community College isn't the solution, but it's a great starting place if you want to study for relatively cheap. The professors are usually pretty cool too. I was able to sit in on some extra classes when I had down time during the day. You can meet experts who love teaching so much they do it as a hobby.
You don't need to get a degree or have a track like you want to transfer. If you occasionally want to take a creative writing or fitness class, you can do that a lot cheaper than a writing workshop or personal training. It's also kinda nice for physical education if you don't want a lot of one-on-one attention.
Do you want to talk about movies for shits and giggles? There's a film as literature class you can take as an elective. You can watch two classic movies a week and debate/write about it.
Do you want to have a better understanding of mental health? Intro to Psychology can bring you up to date on trends in mental health.
If you know where to look, you can find comrades teaching sociology and political science. It's how I started reading about Engels.
Another cool thing is there are people of all ages there. You don't to make connections, obviously, but it feels nice when you know the population includes people who are working full time, or trying to figure things out in your community.
I know not every city has them, but I highly recommend checking them out.
I did two years at mine for a general studies degree, with the intention of figuring out my major and transferring. Then 2020 happened and I had to do all my work in my room and just lost any interest. I graduated but that was over two years ago and I've been wasting away at my wagie service job ever since. I've been contemplating going back but I'm afraid to commit to a serious program. Might look into just doing some random classes for shits and giggles. Just to keep my brain functioning, maybe make some friends, reawaken some lost interest in...anything, really.
I'm almost 25 though and it feels so embarrassing. I know I shouldn't, I met people of all ages when I was there in person, but I can't shake the shame.
A society that commodifies education stands to make education difficult to purchase and shameful for those who obtain it cheaply.
You have to do it the right way or the people who paid for it did it the wrong way.
Pirating books, recording lectures, listening to audiobooks, asking for accommodations, getting financial aid, choice of major, finishing later, not finishing, etc. People would try to find a way to make education seem illegitimate.
I hate the platitudes around it's never too late to get started on life and you can get a doctorate at 85. It doesn't acknowledge the reasons why people are unable to get their education for that long.
There are a ton of factors around starting or considering continuing school, and most of them are financial or a result a tragedy worsened by capitalism like covid.
There are plenty of other valid reasons to not start or continue school either, including just not liking it.
We're all trying to make it out here, and for what it's worth, it was cool going back to school after taking a break. Younger students might make a joke here and there, but a lot of the time I ran into people I was able to help with things.
There was a Citations Needed episode on the 'Thirty Under Thirty' media trend that really helped me feel at peace with where I'm at in life.