Great to see the Washington Post run an opinion piece about the vital role played by community colleges in America. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/05/02/community-college-saved-my-life/?fbclid=IwAR1jNRdLk9ZJR0-TflrbMLPSsjwGOgPGfOt8xqUVhOvMYHrDajfRPxVb6ck
Writer Jen Balderama speaks from personal experience in this powerful article (for days it’s been one of the WaPo’s most popular opinion pieces). This one-time cc student’s career speaks for itself. At the top of her profession, she claims that community college saved her life. Might sound a bit broad, but she’s hardly alone in voicing this sentiment.
As a graduate of a community college and emeritus faculty member at my alma mater, nothing in her homage surprised me. I’ve seen it as a teacher and counselor and have lived it as a student. I proudly watched my working-class, single-parent, English-as-a-Second-Language Mom study at Community College of Philadelphia. Then I attended my wife’s graduation from CCP’s highly regarded nursing program and beamed as our son completed its honors program. Our daughter served a graduate school internship there.
Read the article, but don’t stop there. Check out the reader comments that follow it. You’ll see story after story, many of them redemption sagas that suggest the virtue of giving people second chances AND to its practical value for society.
Supporting community college education is one simple and cost-effective way to strengthen our nation in important ways. The litany of accomplishments by cc grads is eye-opening. Chances are your life has been positively impacted by a doctor, a nurse, an engineer, a teacher, an actor, an inventor, or a comedian whose educational path included community college.
Thanks to my friend Peter who lives in Taiwan and saw this article for passing it on to me.
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Ned Bachus is the author of Open Admissions (Wild River Books, 2017) and of the TURNING POINTS blog on nedbachus.com and on his OPEN ADMISSIONS Facebook Page. City of Brotherly Love (Fleur-de-Lis Books), his book of stories, was awarded the 2013 IPPY Gold Medal for Literary Fiction.
Ned Bachus 