Discounted Dreams Comments….

In the latest look by John Merrow on the educational system he spends 1 full hour on the community college system. It was a great look at the community college system that I hope helps start some debate on the whole subject. Around 50% of all undergraduate students are community college students. A number that did not shock me at all.

Four people in this documentary get a good look at.

Kyrstal Jenkins from the NYC Area. She is a mother who also has some pets Has to work at a supermarket and only has a GED. Has a long commute time every single to get to college and work. She goes to LaGuardia Community College, but has big time math problems that cause her to not be able to take veterinarian classes. In the end she racks up a couple grand in debt and puts her dreams on hold. When it comes to remedial classes around 40% of community college students end up having to take at least one class. This number is only growing and students who take these classes have a greater chance of not graduating from college.

Jose Sosa was a former gang member and high school dropout who decided to go to LA Trade Tech College to become a chef. He is a father of three kids and in the end gets his college degree. He hopes this sets up an example for his kids. Jose lives in a very bad section of LA and three months before he graduated the landlord of his rented place puts the house on the marketplace forcing Jose and his family to move. He was able to get a new place to live and was also able to change jobs to something that paid an extra 15% in salary.

Jennica Dinnell wanted to go to University of California at Santa Cruz, but could not afford it so she winds up going to San Diego City College. Jennica liked the quality of education she did get from the school. She also wound up finding a lack of classes a big problem though. That is easily a problem all across the USA with the poor funding the community college system has.

Dave Rynders who worked as a carpenter winds up with a work-related injury. He decides to change careers and become a nurse. The documentary says that around 60% of registered nurses come from community colleges. He too has been accepted to study at San Diego City College, but is put on a massive long wait list that will last for at least a couple of years. The college did get some extra money so 15 extra students could become a nurse, but he did not get in. This wait is a complete no-no and certainly can have a major effect on our healthcare system when the baby boomers that are also nurses retire.

In one hour they do get into many issues related to the community college system and is a perfect length. I give this documentary a big thumbs up and hope this documentary sparks some major funding changes into the system. These colleges are vital and offer many career fields stuffy options that you just wont find at four-year colleges.

If you want to see even more on the college educational system you can look at his Declining by Degrees documentary that I think is also great. I also wrote some commentary on that one as well.

Some resource links:

Discounted dreams official website: http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/discounteddreams/

Declining By Degrees official website: http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/