“What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog (Sept. 2025): No war on college ed

In the “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog for our September 2025,  Dr. John Spevak presents an adaptation of a column he wrote for the August 6 issue of The Westside Express touting the effectiveness of higher education, its impact on students and the return on investment (ROI).  Dr. Spevak, who is a vice president-emeritus of Merced College and currently a CVHEC lead, coordinates the English and Math Task Forces for the consortium. We welcome feedback as well as ideas for future blog topics: cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu.

 

Please, no war on college education

… and check out your local community college for true return-on-investment

BY DR. JOHN SPEVAK
CVHEC Math & English Task Force Lead
Vice President-Emeritus – Merced College

 

It seems these days that there is a war on education, especially on college education.

One national commentator wrote that college is an “overpriced scam.” Another stated that “many college degrees are useless.” I could cite dozens more, but I think most of my readers have heard some pundit say or write something similar.

These commentators believe that college isn’t worthwhile and that it’s too expensive. That may be true in some cases, but community colleges in California, like the college campuses on the Westside of the Central Valley in Los Banos and Firebaugh, prove these statements wrong.

Besides these two campuses, I have visited almost all of the other community colleges in California. They are friendly and welcoming to all students and accept 100% of all students who apply.

I have a long history with the Merced College campus in Los Banos. Over the past 50 years, I have heard hundreds and hundreds of students who attended that campus tell me the education they received there improved their lives significantly without hurting them financially.

I personally know many of these people. They have improved the quality of life in this community. Los Banos Campus alumni and alumnae are successful businesspersons, farmers, teachers, nurses, radiologists, sonographers and on and on. The same could be said for every California city which includes a community college campus.

People who claim that young people should not bother going to college always have a narrow definition of what a college is. College is not limited to four-year universities and abstract majors. “College” also includes community colleges, with programs that include education in what over the years has been called “vocational education,” “the trades” and “career technical education.”

The career tech programs on the Westside of the Central Valley include welding, agriculture, computer technology and emergency medical technician (EMT).

The main campuses of their colleges, in Merced and Coalinga, offer even more, including licensed vocational and registered nursing, mechanized agriculture and automotive technology. I would bet the complete list of career tech programs in California community colleges would list more than 100 vocational programs.

All of these programs provide the education and training that enables a person to earn a decent salary on a path to earn enough money for individuals to support themselves and their families. Any employer who has hired these students will tell you that their community college education was an important factor in hiring them.

But wait! There’s more! California community colleges, like the campuses in Los Banos and Firebaugh, also offer a wide variety of transfer programs that enable students to complete their first two years toward a four-year degree and then transfer to a university at very little or no cost.

These transfer students enter the universities as juniors and are well on their way to bachelor’s degrees in the sciences, business, advanced computer technology, and other fields that will enable them to earn a very significant income.

What I find ironic about people who say a college education isn’t worthwhile is that they themselves have a college education and they want their children to have a college education. These people feel, however, that OTHER parents’ children don’t need it.

They want their own children to have a college education because they know the facts. Studies show that a college education, two-year or four-year – significantly increases the earning capacity of graduates.

Over their entire working life, according to the Hamilton Project, the typical high school graduate will earn $580,000, the typical associate’s degree graduate will earn $855,000, and the typical bachelor’s degree graduate will earn $1.19 million in today’s dollars.

The key word in these statistics is “typical.” There are some cases of students with just a high school diploma earning more than a college graduate, but they are not typical. Another way of putting it is “What are the odds of earning a good income?”  Smart parents, including those who declaim against a college education, know that the odds are with students with degrees.

When I talk with young people wondering if college is worth it, I suggest they go to something called “Program Pathways Mapper.” It’s an online site that’s free to all and doesn’t require a password. One way to get to the Mapper is to Google “Merced College Program Pathways Mapper.”

Once on the Mapper site, they can select one of the many career fields, like “Agriculture and Industrial Technology,” and scroll down to “Career Explorer.” There they can see the jobs available in that field, the average salary of that job and the education required, whether bachelor’s degree, associate’s degree, or high school diploma. For many it’s an eye-opening experience.

I also tell young people that a college education is no guarantee of a high-paying job. They need to have initiative and a work ethic and a willingness to adjust to the working world and its demands, as well.

My parents didn’t have a college education. In fact, they didn’t have a high school diploma. But they encouraged their children to get a college education, and for that I will be ever grateful.

I, in turn, encouraged my three children to get a college education, and they all did, including attending the Los Banos Campus of Merced College. That, and a strong work ethic, enabled them to go into careers that paid a good salary and enabled them eventually to own their own homes—all without significant student loan debt.

For anyone who has doubts about what I have written, I encourage you to look at a recent study done by College Futures Foundation (CCF):  “Golden Returns: A Regional Look at the Return on Investment (ROI) of California’s Community and Career Colleges.”

As the CCF website puts it, “This new analysis ranks 327 community colleges and certificate-granting institutions—including 121 public, 186 for-profit, and 20 private non-profit—located within the state across 12 of California’s economic regions by how long it takes learners to recoup their educational costs.”

As the brief summary on the website states: “Forty percent of public two-year colleges enable students to recoup their costs in under a year, compared to just 5% of private non-profit and for-profit institutions.”

Anyone can go to the website, find their closest community college, and see how quickly students there recover their costs. Seeing the positive ROI is another way of pointing out to people who argue against a “college education” that they are way off base.

So before you believe anyone who tells you that a college education isn’t worth it, explore the issue on your own. And if you end up agreeing with me, encourage young people you know to attend their local public community college campuses.

There’s no better time to start than now.

John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.

 

Wrap up: CVHEC Math Task Force Convening Mar. 28

Read more

Valley math profs to present national experience at AB1705 convening March 28


Jeremy Brandl and Shelley Getty (seated at right) presenting CVHEC’s approach to addressing AB 1705 at the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Conference (AMATYC)  conference last fall .

Getty, Brandl share ‘The Central Valley Way’ to AB1705 at

AMATYC national meet – March 28 MTF agenda released

[REGISTER]

BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications Coordinator

Among the highlights of the upcoming Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Math Task Force convening this month in Fresno will be a full report from two members featured in the national spotlight with a presentation at a national math conference in Atlanta last fall about “The Central Valley Way” in tackling AB 1705 curriculum issues.

Jeremy Brandl, Tammi Pérez-Rice and Shelley Getty.

CVHEC released the official agenda for the “The Central Valley Way to Math Success: AB 1705 Success and Beyond” Convening set for March 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the new West Fresno Center of Fresno City College where community college professors Shelley Getty  and Jeremy Brandl will discuss how, at the national math conference Nov. 17, they shared  CVHEC’s approach to addressing AB 1705 the past two years.

In addition to updates in five breakout sessions from Central Valley community colleges regarding their revised calculus and precalculus curricula, the upcoming event will feature a visit by Dr. Erik Cooper, assistant vice chancellor of the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, presenting “Reflections from Chancellor’s Office” regarding a Dec. 10, 2024 memo which provides “additional direction on placement and enrollment options.”

Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math Task Force and serves as event facilitator, said participants will also hear about innovations in teaching calculus from university colleagues, as well as ways to improve math outcomes through student engagement from the Central Valley Math Bridge Program now in full swing by College Bridge and CVHEC.

“We will have an opportunity in break-out sessions to hear what our math colleagues are doing, now that curricula has been finalized and fall schedules are set, in terms of innovative pedagogy, student support structures and collecting relevant data,” Spevak said.   “We will conclude the event with discussions about next steps.”

Session topics are:

  • “Math Strand Report Out”
  • “Math Bridge in the Central Valley – Improving Student Engagement Quantitative and Qualitative Outcomes of Increased Student Participation in Mathematics”
  • “Reports & Updates on Regional and State Math Initiatives”
  • “Conversations around Pedagogy, Support and Data”
  • “How was Atlanta? Showcasing CV Math Efforts to a National Audience”

The Atlanta session features Getty of Taft College and Brandl of Fresno City College who attended the  American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges Conference (AMATYC)  with Dr. Tammi Pérez-Rice, course program specialist for the Charles A. Dana Center (University of Texas at Austin), a co-facilitator of past MTF convenings with Spevak.

When the delegation returned, Pérez-Rice commended the Central Valley math professors for their Atlanta presentation which she said drew approximately 20 participants representing about six states.

“Our presentation at AMATYC was a success,” Pérez-Rice said in an email report. “Jeremy and Shelley were amazing.  Even more exciting are the conversations sparked during the session, including ideas about returning next year with even more data and updates to share. The enthusiasm and engagement from attendees were inspiring, and it’s clear that the momentum around this work is only growing.”

Brandl noted in the email report that “many in attendance were very taken back with what we are going through, and how we are navigating it all.”  He said the national conference experience also provided the opportunity to attend other presentations that provided numerous ideas.

“I will have some notes to share, both to my department, as well as the CVHEC community,” he said.

Getty called it an “amazing experience” where the attendees were “very interested both in the challenges we have faced in California and the benefit CVHEC and the Dana Center have offered us.

“I have learned a lot from some great presenters and gathered ideas that will be very beneficial as we continue to move forward in this adventure we call AB1705,” Getty said. “It has been really good to see how schools across the country are wrestling with similar challenges, but on much longer timelines. It has made me very thankful to be a part of ‘the Central Valley Way’.”

Event questions:  contact Ángel Ramírez, operations and finance manager, at CVHECinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu or 559.278.0576.

Media inquiries: Tom Uribes, CVHEC communications coordinator, text 559.348.3278 or cvheccommunications@mail.fresnostate.edu

FULL AGENDA [link to come]

See:

Community colleges loosen STEM math placement rules, calming some critics – EdSource (Dec. 13, 2024)

Math Task Force sets next AB1705 convening March 28

Read more

CVHEC DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE (December 2024): Happy Holidays!

Best wishes for 2025 from the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium team: (FRONT) Dr. Liz Rozell,
Priscilla Arellano and Elaine Cash. (BACK) Tom Uribes, Tom Burke, Stan Carrizosa,
Dr. Benjamín Durán, Dr. John Spevak, Dr. Vikash Lakhani and Ángel Ramírez.

Revisiting an eventful year and strategies

for student success the Central Valley Way

Greetings CVHEC friends and colleagues …

Welcome to the end of the fall 2024 semester and the beginning of the well-deserved winter break!

I hope you enjoy the final edition of this year’s CVHEC e-newsletter.  You will have the opportunity to join us in revisiting the highlights of this eventful year and the strategies our colleges and universities have engaged to improve the pathways to retention and timely completion for our Central Valley students. On that note, a hearty congratulations to those who completed their academic journey this month.  And congrats as well to the faculty, staff and administrators who provided the academic guidance to support your success. All the best to you Class of Winter 2024 graduates!

Among the many successes of this past year is the historic mission to address implementation of Assembly Bill 1705 with our Math Task Force convening community college math education professionals from throughout our 10-county region to communicate and collaborate for strategies that benefit valley college students. We have also seen great advancement of our Transfer Project which completes its first year as a California Community Colleges Demonstration Project.

These CVHEC initiatives have established what we call “the Central Valley Way,” a movement that his gained recognition in higher education circles beyond our region.  We have had the opportunity to share this great work with audiences at the state and national levels at such convenings as the Complete College America Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana along with California convenings like the Community College League of California and the California Economic Summit.

It has been an honor and a delight to shine the light on the region and our member institutions and we especially commend our Math Task Force members and Transfer Project team for their diligence this past year.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our funding partners who make it possible for us to do our work.  Thanks to the College Futures Foundation, Fresno-Madera K-16 Collaborative, the Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative, the We Will! K-16 Educational Collaborative, College Bridge, and the CVHEC membership.  These colleagues have been instrumental in transforming the region socially, economically and educationally.

As you enjoy our final newsletter of the year, we wish you a joyful holiday season and a wonderful New Year!!

Math Task Force AB1705 collaborations to continue

Central Valley’s math professionals go above and beyond  

 

BY TOM URIBES
CVHEC Communications Coordinator

A “unique collaboration” was the vibe for more than 60 community college math educators and other education officials who met last month at the third meeting of the “Central Valley Way to AB1705 Success and Beyond” convening where they shared ideas and perspectives addressing implementation of Assembly Bill 1705 curriculum.

Presented by the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Math Task Force with the Charles A. Dana Center (University of Texas at Austin), the Oct. 25 convening continued two years of discussion as Central Valley community colleges and their counterparts statewide prepare to meet the requirements of the state law related to equitable placement, support and completion practices for STEM programs.

Plans are already underway for the next math gathering in spring 2025 with a tentative March 28 date, said Dr. John Spevak, CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math Task Force and co-facilitator with Dr. Tammi Perez-Rice, Dana Center course program specialist.

“At that 2025 meeting, we will continue the vibrant conversation for even more intersegmental collaboration related to improving success for students in STEM math courses,” Spevak said.

In three virtual and three in person sessions beginning in early 2023, the task force addressed the various options available to the state’s community colleges for AB1705 implementation, a unique situation that the consortium has dubbed “The Central Valley Way” because of its innovative approach of bringing the region’s math community together for the first time.

“This confluence of thought and individuals of math faculty and math professionals is unique to California,” said Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director and president-emeritus of Merced College.

“This was truly a boots-on-the-ground campaign, and we commend the folks who rolled up their sleeves and crossed territorial lines to collaborate for a great impact on our students,” Durán said. “As many excellent educators are driven to do, some went above and beyond the call of duty, even working through the summer, to prepare for this culmination and beyond.”

After the various previous sessions leading up to the Oct. 25 gathering, which was held at the Clovis Community College Herndon campus, the task force narrowed its focus to three strands with cross-institution teams developing reports regarding:

  • calculus 1 corequisite design and implementation,
  • designing and implementing an innovative pre-calculus course,
  • evaluating the efficacy of the courses in the path to calculus as reported out by strand leads.

Spevak said each community college has worked on its own plan to comply with the new legislation, for implementation in fall 2025, but the collaboration gave them the opportunity to see what sister Central Valley campuses were doing and feed off each other.

“Each college benefitted from the ideas presented by fellow college math educators,” Spevak said. “The comment most frequently heard was ‘I appreciated the opportunity to learn what other community colleges are doing and to share what my college is doing’.”

Joan M. Zoellner, the Dana Center’s Launch Years Initiative lead who also delivered a presentation, “National Best Practices in Math Student Success,” at the event summarized the outcome.

“Despite taking different approaches, all of the participants displayed dedication to student success, discussing a wide variety of topics including active learning, flipped classrooms, scheduling with other STEM departments and creatively leveraging existing campus resources such as MESA programs,” she said.

Spevak also noted that the spirit of collaboration extended to math educators from other segments who participated in the math gathering, including three Central Valley high schools and representatives from the California State University System and the University of California as well from UC campuses at Merced and Davis.

Dr. Erik Cooper of the California Community College Chancellors Office briefly discussed the AB1705 guidance.

Zoellner said of the vice chancellor’s Zoom appearance, “Attendees had the opportunity to pose several logistical questions that are still ambiguous.”

Sharing updates on work in progress throughout the Central Valley as well as statewide to enhance math education research, teacher training and student support were Dr. Lynn Cevallos of College Bridge, Dr. Ted Coe of the California Mathematics Education Collaborative, Dr. Fred Uy from the CSU Chancellors Office, Dr. Liz Rozell of the Kern Master’s Teacher Upskilling Project. Rolin Moe of UC Online sent comments presented to the group by Spevak.

Several high school officials and other higher education representatives also offered input throughout the day, highlighting the impression the Central Valley Way has made on the Dana Center representatives who work with several education organizations throughout the nation on math issues. In California, they have worked with CVHEC since 2018, when AB705 was initially being implemented and more recently into the current partnership focusing on the AB1705 implementation.

“We have been honored to work with the dedicated math faculty in the Central Valley over the course of these past years,” Zoellner said. “We have witnessed the thoughtful and intentional work by the faculty to design corequisite supports that will best support their local student populations, even when buy-in to the overall guidance was mixed.”

She echoed Duran’s assessment saying the cross-sector collaborative work happening in the Central Valley — including high schools, community colleges, CSUs and UCs — is unique in the state and in the country.

“The collaboration of many Central Valley community colleges, including small rural colleges, to share ideas, strategies and data will help identify and make the case for scaling effective ways of implementing AB1705 for similar schools in the state,” Zoellner said.

Perez-Rice said that this collaboration will be highlighted in a presentation by the Dana Center at the annual conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) in Atlanta Nov. 14-17 that will include two of the three CVHEC Math task Force strand leads who will share the CVHEC story addressing AB 1705 the past two years.

Set to participate in that national presentation are math professors Jeremy Brandl of Fresno City College and Shelley Getty of Taft College.

“So really the nation is seeing what is happening in the Central Valley of California and how CVHEC is leading the way showing what it means to convene like this; what it means to work across sectors to this caliber,” Perez-Rice said.  “We hope the story behind the ‘Central Valley Way to Math Success’ collaboration will serve as a template for similar regional collaboration throughout the state and nation. It’s quite exciting.”

This national attention is possible “thanks to all the math professionals in our region for their dedication to math success for our Central Valley students,” Durán said in a recorded welcome for the group.

“You are all doing something unique — a collaboration of math educators working closely together to create the ‘Central Valley Way to Math Success.’ Now the work of your partnerships is being noticed nationally.”

AB 1705: Math Task Force sets Oct. 25 reconvene with 3 strands

Math Task Force ‘Central Valley Way’

gains national math attention

 

REGISTER

As a July 1, 2025 deadline approaches regarding implementation of Assembly Bill 1705, the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Math Task Force prepares for its next convening of valley math minds Friday, Oct. 25 in Clovis amidst several new developments.

The group has now met five times since October 2022 – three in person and two virtually – as Central Valley community colleges prepare to meet the requirements of AB 1705 related to  equitable placement, support and completion practices for STEM programs.

The free convening Oct. 25, again co-facilitated by John Spevak, Ph.D., CVHEC regional coordinator who oversees the consortium’s Math Task Force, and Tammi Rice-Perez, Ed.D., of the Charles A. Dana Center (University of Texas at Austin), will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Clovis Community College Herndon campus (390 W. Fir Ave. in Clovis).

At the April 19 gathering attended by about 70 that Spevak described as “filled with energy, synergy and productivity,” math professors and deans shared ideas about how best to meet AB 1705 requirements.

That conversation will continue on Oct. 25 with the focus narrowed to three strands and discussion of a new direction provided recently by the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.  

Spevak said the task force, with the help of the Dana Center, has been working over the summer to present reports on these three updated strands:

  • “Developing a Single-Course Prerequisite to Calculus,” led by Professor Jeremy Brandl of Fresno City College
  • “Developing a Calculus 1 Course with a Corequisite,” led by Professor Shelley Getty of Taft College
  • “Verifying the New Prerequisite Course,” led by Professor Nathan Cahoon of Taft College.

“The Oct. 25 math gathering in Clovis will continue to focus on the Central Valley Way to Math Success in light of AB 1705,” said Dr. Spevak. “Math professors will be giving updates on the development of new courses that will be taught starting in fall 2025, including a new calculus prerequisite course and a calculus with corequisite course.”

Spevak said another group of professors is working on ways to deal with the challenges presented in the Chancellor’s Office guidelines to implementing AB 1705.

He added that the Central Valley’s pursuit of best math practices is gradually expanding as representatives from the California State University and the University of California are expected to attend on Oct. 25 and provide updates.

That gathering will also include expanding representation from K-12 partners, who are also working on finding the best paths to math success in the Central Valley.

Dr. Spevak also announced that this collaborative endeavor by CVHEC, the Dana Center and consortium member institutions of higher education – convening community college math educators, administrators and researchers as well as K-12 representatives to address AB1705 – is getting national attention with the invitation of two strand leads of the Math Task Force, Jeremy Brandl and Shelley Getty, to present at a national math conference in Georgia this fall.

They will join Rice-Perez of the Dana Center to make a presentation about the “Central Valley Way to Math Success” collaboration at the annual conference of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) in Atlanta I Nov. 14-17.

“We continue to thank all the math professionals in our region for their dedication to math success for our Central Valley students,” said Dr. Benjamín Durán, CVHEC executive director and president-emeritus of Merced College.

“You are all doing something unique — a collaboration of math educators working closely together to create the Central Valley Way to Math Success. Now the work of your partnerships is being noticed nationally.”

He noted the AB1705 collaboration on the Central Valley front is providing an added benefit: the establishment of an ongoing network between the consortium’s math community.

“This is one of the primary purposes of our consortium, to convene our members on issues of higher education affecting our region and to unify as one voice when needed,” Dr. Duran said. “That’s why we call this CVHEC Math Task Force endeavor ‘the Central Valley Way.’”

Registration for the event is now open.

See also: 

 

CVHEC’s Mid-Year Review 2024

Read more

WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING BLOG (Summer 2024): Why some colleges are worth it

 

In the “What the CV-HEC is Happening” Blog for our summer 2024 special edition,  Dr. John Spevak presents an observation about the value of a higher education.  Dr. Spevak, who is a vice president-emeritus of Merced College and currently a regional coordinator for CVHEC, coordinates the English and Math Task Forces for the consortium — all champions for student support through such measures as dual enrollment.  Through the consortium task forces, the former English teacher and college administrator continues to work closely with educators in the field for the educational advancement of students.

Higher ed is still a good

investment … and attainable

 

BY DR. JOHN SPEVAK
CVHEC Regional Coordinator
Vice President-Emeritus – Merced College

 

According to the results of a recent poll by Gallup and the Lumina Foundation, Americans are losing faith in the value of a college education.

Overall, according to that poll as reported by the Associated Press, only 36 percent of adults say they have a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. What’s worse, the poll shows that 32 percent of Americans have little or no confidence in a college education.

That’s both misleading and misguided.

For one thing “college” can mean different things to different people. For another, having a degree from the right college can make a big difference in a person’s opportunity and income.

By “right college,” I don’t mean a prestigious private college.  A right college often means, especially in California, a two-year community college, a state university, or a small private college which provides significant financial aid.

A two-year community college degree or a certificate of completion is indeed “college.” That degree or certificate can be very valuable, especially if it’s a career-technical program that’s in demand and pays well, like nursing or welding.

A four-year degree can be even more valuable, especially in fields like communications, business, health, information technology and engineering– to name a few. Their lifetime earnings are significantly higher than those with a degree.

As the Associated Press article pointed out, “For those who forgo college, it often means lower lifetime earnings, 75 percent less compared with those who get bachelor’s degrees, according to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. And during an economic downturn, those without degrees are more likely to lose jobs.”

One of the reasons many Americans are doubting the  worth of a college education is the debt often incurred in getting one. As one person interviewed in the AP article put it, “You graduate out of college, you’re up to eyeballs in debt, you can’t get a job, then you can’t pay it off.

What’s the point?”

It’s true that many people over the past decades have incurred a significant debt from student loans, which is exacerbated by the exorbitant interest charged for these loans. I know several people who have long ago paid off the principal of their student loans but are still paying and paying the interest.

However — and this had to be noted, known and understood — a person today can get a college degree without going into significant debt. The cost, for example, of attending a California community college these days in terms of tuition (also known as enrollment fees) is often zero.

Many California community colleges are also working at reducing the cost of books by providing what’s called “open educational resources,” essentially free online textbooks, often created by the college’s faculty members.

Attending a California public university or small private college can also be financially available to most Californians, especially if they begin with a two-year associates transfer degree and then follow a plan of courses that get them to the bachelor’s degree in no more than two additional years.

I’m tired of so many Americans of all backgrounds thinking of “college” as only prestigious private institutions that charge $150,000 or much more for a four-year tuition. Those universities often have value for those who can afford it or who receive full scholarships. But the vast majority of people can’t afford that amount and can’t afford to take out loans to pay for it.

“College” for most people should not be an expensive private institution. If it were, I would also wonder if  a college education was worth it.  However, “college,” in California and especially in the Central Valley, is accessible, affordable and worth it.

Instead of young people (and their parents) asking, “Can I afford college,” I wish they would ask, “What are my college options? What are the real costs, not just according to pundits on TV or social media, but according to the colleges themselves.”

College personnel, more than ever, are ready and willing to talk with prospective students of all ages and the parents of younger students about the real cost of a college education. And they are also ready and willing to show prospective students the extensive personal help they will receive to succeed in courses and earn their degree.

Often television and social media pundits who say college is not worth it are people who themselves have benefited from a college education. There’s some hypocrisy in that.

It’s true that there are many hard-working Americans without a college degree who can support themselves and their families, but the odds of most people doing this are long.

In California’s Central Valley, where the median family income is below the national average, it’s especially important to dispel the myth that college is not worth it. A two-year or four-year college degree is one of the best ways to achieve an income that will sustain families — enable them to pay rent or a mortgage, purchase a reliable car, buy clothes and put food on the table.

Central Valley colleges from Stockton to Bakersfield are working harder than ever to show students the value of a college education and to streamline the paths to a degree.

Community colleges in the valley, for example, are offering more dual enrollment courses than ever where students can earn college credits in high school, which reduces their time to a college degree.

These dual enrollment courses can be taken by most high school students, not just those students who in the past were steered into advanced placement (AP) courses. Community colleges are also working harder than ever, in collaboration with their high school partners, to provide the academic support needed to successfully complete dual enrollment courses.

In addition, many Central Valley community colleges, including Merced College, are partnering with the University of California Merced and local California State University campuses to provide user-friendly guides or “maps” to students and their parents. “Pathways Program Mapper” is a tool these colleges have developed that is available to anyone with a cell phone (no login or password required).

PPM will show a student what degree is needed to enter a particular career (for example, biology, business, engineering, etc.), what range of salaries people in those careers earn and then provide a map of courses from the first semester at a community college to the last semester at a university to attain that degree in the shortest possible time.

So, please, pundits, stop telling people that a college education isn’t worth it. Moreover, I hope readers of this column spread the word that here in the Central Valley a college education is not only worth it, but it’s attainable for anyone willing to pursue it.

John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.

CVHEC commemorates TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK (May 5-11, 2024)

Dr. John Spevak (at right), vice president-emeritus of Merced College and currently a regional coordinator for CVHEC, was an English teacher early in his career and now coordinates the English and Math Task Forces for the consortium working directly with community college teachers in the valley’s nine-county region. Here he facilitates the Math Task Force convening in Fresno January 26. For Teacher Appreciation Week, CVHEC reposts this column Dr. Spevak wrote for the Westside Express recently. This occasion is a special time to honor the men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating our children. It’s a chance for parents, caregivers, and community members to celebrate the hard work and dedication of teachers and school staff throughout the year. 

Teaching English In A Community College:

Today Versus Yesterday

 

BY DR. JOHN SPEVAK
CVHEC Regional Coordinator
Vice President-Emeritus – Merced College

 

The other day I had a conversation with college professors who teach English to community college students (as I taught English at the Los Baños college campus many years ago).

I came away from that conversation thanking my lucky stars I taught in the 1970s and 80s — and not today.

When I taught my first English class at the Los Baños Campus of Merced College in 1971, life was good, and so was teaching. I enjoyed sharing my love of reading and writing with the students gathered in my classroom.

I appreciated the many times when the students, young and old, expressed their increased enjoyment of reading and writing as a result of being in my class. There were many lively, interpersonal interactions.

When I gave writing assignments, I knew my students were responding with their own thoughts and ideas, which often were the result of questions they asked in class. I appreciated the growth I saw as students became more proficient writers, as well as more thoughtful readers.

And I enjoyed it when students came into my office and engaged in thoughtful conversations, with questions that enabled them to explore ideas in more depth.

Today, however, for all professors in community colleges but especially those who teach English, teaching has become much harder and less interpersonal.

Today’s community college English professors have to navigate and endure six challenges I never had to face: “bot students,” having to teach online, the lingering consequences of COVID, two new state regulations and (most recently) artificial intelligence.

I don’t know how they do it. But listening to them, I realize they persist while keeping their love for English and their passion for helping students succeed.

“Bot students” was a term that was new to me. My colleagues explained these are fraudulent or fake students, names and student ID numbers of nonexistent people that show up on class lists. Bot students are the work of sophisticated cyber-scammers trying to illegally collect financial aid.

One English professor told me he noticed 30 names on his first class roll sheet, only to find that just five of them were real.

College technology administrators are doing everything they can to distinguish real students from bot or fake students, but scammers keep finding new ways for bot students to appear on class roles, especially for online classes.

This brings up another current challenge for community college professors—teaching online. Currently about 50 percent of community college students prefer taking courses online instead of in person. For a professor to keep her or his job, this almost always results in being required to teach one or more classes online.

Teaching online, something I never had to do as an English instructor, is much different from teaching in person, especially after two years of COVID, during which the only classes were online.

Good online teachers really have to work to get interactions between themselves and their students. And they have to make sure the students’ work is truly their own.

COVID also created another challenge. During the pandemic, most high schools were reluctant to give Fs to students because many students had insurmountable challenges to online access. In many cases students passed courses just by virtually showing up.

After COVID, a lingering challenge for community college professors is the “COVID” approach many students have about passing the course. They ask their professors, “You mean I have to do the work?”

For California community college English teachers there is still another challenge. A few years ago, the state legislature passed regulations which essentially eliminated remedial English classes. Overall, it was a good idea, because too many students gave up when they had to keep taking remedial courses.

This created a new challenge for English professors. How do they help students who have had limited success in writing become proficient writers in one semester? Good college English teachers have found ways, but it requires much more time and energy than I spent teaching to make this happen.

Meanwhile, recent state legislation also makes it easier for community colleges to offer college classes to high school students on their high school campuses. This was another good idea, enabling more and more students to get a head start on college.

At schools where there are few if any high school teachers with master’s degrees in English, many community college English professors needed to travel to the high schools to teach those college courses.

Finally, here comes artificial intelligence (AI), which makes it much easier for real community college students to cheat by submitting essays generated by a computer and not by their own minds.

Today’s professors, especially in English courses, have to find ways to determine whether a student’s writing is truly his or her own. This is especially challenging when teaching online courses.

Whew, I’m exhausted just listing the challenges today’s community college English professors face that I didn’t 40 years ago.

All of this makes me appreciative and proud of my current English teaching colleagues. The community college English professors I know are determined to meet all these challenges even though it takes much more time and effort to teach English today than “in my day.”

I salute my current English colleagues who continue to do such an important job, making college students better readers and writers and giving them greater opportunities to succeed in college, in careers and in life.

 

See the original Westside Express version (March 29, 2024 )

CVHEC blogs by Dr. John Spevak :

WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING BLOG (September 2023): Teachers

WHAT THE CV-HEC IS HAPPENING BLOG (December 2023): The gift of math

Contact Us

  • cvhecinfo@mail.fresnostate.edu

  • 559.278.0576

Join Our Newsletter