Why Open Admissions is Fuel for Teachers
“It gave me the feeling of a teacher retiring, who wanted to get down on paper his own sense of what essential, satisfying, maddening, and purposeful work we do. And it felt to me also like a love letter to teaching. This is how inspiring the book was to me—even in the week after Xmas, while still under the clouds of the fall term hangover, as I read I kept thinking of how I might tweak my spring classes. It made me want to work! During my break!” —Mark Hughes, faculty, CCP
“As Bachus demonstrates, we all have a stake in the success of community colleges and those who attend them. I would add that we also have a stake in the success of professors who dare to take on the challenges that Ned Bachus embraced in his thirty years of teaching. Open Admissions is A Tale of Many Cities from a man who spent the best years of his life refusing to give up on anyone.” –Patti Marxsen, author of Tales from the Heart of Haiti, Helene Schweitzer: A Life of Her Own, Island Journeys, and others.
“Brilliant, engaging, and instructive…A must read, not only for those who teach at community colleges, but for all teachers and all administrators.” Gina Barreca, contributor, Chronicle of Higher Education
What Other Educators are Saying
“With humor and compassion, Bachus reveals the transformational work that occurs in community colleges in helping students reach their educational goals. He intertwines his own mishaps in a foreign culture with the challenges that students face as they enter the new world of academia. Teaching and learning occurs by both faculty and students in this must-read book for anyone employed at a community college.”— Kathleen Hetherington, President, Howard Community College
“As someone who teaches in another field, you made clearer and more explicit the teaching and learning processes that I rely on every day, even if I didn’t always have the theory behind it. Your book is so much more than just about community college teaching. Your humanity shines through on every page.” –Paula Behrens, Architecture Dept. CCP
What the Press is Saying
“Bachus is a clear-eyed and likable protagonist and his hard-earned reflections on the way humans learn from one another are worth a read. A valuable and thoughtful work from a professor at the end of his teaching career.”— Kirkus
“In a time of crumbling infrastructure, education budget cuts, and spiraling college debt, Ned Bachus finds hope and possibility in our country’s community colleges. Open Admissions is a love song to the promise and accessibility of affordable higher education. Weaving a narrative tapestry from the threads of his own search within and abroad, Bachus discovers that while he thought he taught writing to nontraditional students, what he really was teaching was independence.”— Roger LaMay, General Manager, WXPN
“In his deeply personal book, Open Admissions: What Teaching at Community College Taught Me About Learning, Ned Bachus reflects on his nearly forty-year teaching career, mostly most of which was at a community college…All too often, a college’s prestige is based on how many students it denies admission. Ned Bachus reminds us of the importance of colleges that focus on admitting and supporting students – and giving them the opportunity for transformation and success.” — Dave Canarie, Portland Press Herald
“I loved this book. Ned Bachus can really write. This memoir is brilliant, engaging, and instructive. Open Admissions is both moving and personal; it is serious without being sanctimonious. Bachus is never pious and he is always inspiring, whether he’s talking about the students he’s teaching or about his own experiences and family life. A must read, not only for those who teach at community colleges or at public institutions, but for all teachers and all administrators. I recommend Open Admissions with a full heart.”– Gina Barreca, Professor of English, University of Connecticut, contributor to Chronicle of Higher Education, and author of Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League
What Readers Are Saying
[Ned Bachus is] a gifted writer and a keen observer. He brings out the humanity out of his subjects in a way readers will connect with. Once I start reading, I can’t put his books down. Highly recommended. — Schwartz (Amazon Review)
Anyone concerned about meaning and purpose in life, anyone considering a path of higher education, anyone approaching completion of a formal career, and anyone wondering whether a social institution is capable of positively altering the trajectory of one’s life, will find untold value in this book. Can’t wait for our book club discussion.–Steve Cohen (Amazon Review)
Ned Bachus 