Pierce College Deserves Fresh Start
Pierce College’s new president, Rocky Young, is rightly proud of the two-year school’s record of sending students on to four-year universities. About 6% of Pierce’s 13,600 students transferred to the University of California or Cal State systems by the end of the 1997-98 school year. While that may not seem like many, it is a greater percentage than any other community college in Southern California.
Young can’t take credit for the numbers--he just arrived--but he’s eager to spread good news about a school he thinks is too often mentioned in the same sentence as the word “problem.”
Everyone is familiar with Pierce’s troubles, such as declining enrollment--half the 23,000 students it had in its heyday--and lingering criticism over a plan to develop its campus farm into a golf course. But Pierce is more than the sum of its problems. In addition to its relatively high number of transfers, for instance, Pierce has an unusually high number of classes--77%--taught by full-time professors. Young attributes Pierce’s transfer success to its experienced faculty.
Sending students on to four-year universities is, of course, only one role a community college plays. Some students choose a two-year school for its lower costs, others, because it provides a less intimidating introduction to college life. For many more, who lack the desire or the ability to complete a four-year degree, community colleges provide an alternative to pick up skills needed to find jobs, well-paying jobs that require technical training but not necessarily four years’ worth. The options and flexibility offered by community colleges appeal to older, returning students who have families and commitments that make a longer or full-time program impossible.
Such colleges are often the first rung in the ladder for those struggling to climb out of poverty. Of the Los Angeles Community College District’s 100,000 students, 80% are minorities, 40% live below poverty level and 40% don’t speak English as a first language. A community is only as rich as its least fortunate members; a program that helps them enriches the entire community.
Last year, Pierce’s problems--that combination of words again--led the district’s board of trustees to not renew Young’s predecessor’s contract. Young--and Pierce--deserve a fresh start.
