So I used to be an orientation counselor at UCLA.
It was like a summer program where there were,
you know, elder students that were there to help
students transition into the university life.
We handled the counseling for both the ones straight
from high school, the first years, as well as
transfer students who are coming in from community
colleges. having had a certain number of courses
under their belt. We would help them learn how
things are done at the particular university
and then help them enroll in their first set
of classes, as well as give some academic advice
and connect them up with various resources. I
really love the job. It allowed me to stay on
the college campus in the summer when I didn't
want to necessarily go back home. And I got paid
a little bit. It was small, but it was sufficient.
And like I said. the bigger benefit was that
I got to stay on the college campus, which was
a lot of fun. But, you know, I'm sharing this
story with you because I'm sharing this information
because there's something that we always did
at the end of each session with these students.
With the first years, it was a three -day program.
And on the third day, the students would write
a review on their counselor. It was kept anonymous,
so you didn't know who said what. And then same
thing with the transfer students. And then it
was like rating your experiences, right? Like,
how did you, did you feel like your counselor
like helped you? Or I forget exactly what the
questions were, but I do remember one thing,
which was that for some reason, I often got higher
marks from the transfer students than I did from
the first year students, the ones straight from
high school. Like it was noticeably statistically
significant difference. And it was kind of odd
because I think for most of the other counselors,
It was the other way around. They actually got
better marks by their first -year students than
by the transfer students. And I didn't necessarily
understand exactly why that was until I started
teaching at a community college. And then I realized
something. Damn it, I like these community college
students way more than I do any of these students
that went straight from high school to a four
-year college. And I don't know exactly what
it is, but I have some guesses as to why. Now,
I'm not trying to offend the students I've taught
in the past at, you know, UC Santa Barbara or
at Villanova. I'm not saying that y 'all are
not great students, right? I'm just saying that
I seem to like my community college students
more. And I think I have some ideas as to exactly
why. So first thing. It started actually when
I was interviewing for my current position at
Pasadena City College. I remember coming, I physically
flew all the way from Pennsylvania to do a face
-to -face interview, even though they offered
me the chance to do a Zoom interview. I was like,
I'll spend the money to do a face -to -face.
And I got to campus because I wanted to check
it out. I'd actually never been to Pasadena City
College at that point. And I stepped on the campus
and then... And immediately I felt something
I haven't felt in years in all of my studying,
whether it was in Boston or in, you know, teaching
at Villanova or, you know, even at UC Santa Barbara.
You know, I said this to my partner at the time,
like I called her up and said, you know, I feel
like I'm at home. This feels like home. And I
was trying to figure out exactly why it felt
like home. And I think I kind of have some ideas
as to why. For one, it was the population of
the students. This was a big one. I mean, it
was the population that community colleges serve.
Because community colleges don't have any screening
for minimum GPA or anything like that in order
for you to take classes here, you get people
from all walks of life. You get veterans. You
get... immigrants you get undocumented students
you get people from a range of you know socioeconomic
backgrounds you get a lot definitely a lot more
racial ethnic diversity and it was also in California
I think that also made a difference right so
something about it felt familiar it felt kind
of like how it felt growing up in San Bernardino
County where I was surrounded by the same sort
of demographic, right? But I think the other
thing that I liked about it was that because
it was a community college, you weren't isolated.
The students and the faculty were not isolated
in a little bubble that is the modern four -year
college campus, right? I remember when I was
studying at UCLA, I was pretty much confined
to that Westwood, Brentwood area, right? You're
kind of confined to that area. You might have
a car and you might be able to travel places,
but you would do that for, you know, let's say
going out to eat or having fun. You wouldn't
necessarily do that for work. let's say right
you would usually stay within that West LA area
right and it was pretty similar for my students
at um UC Santa Barbara too there's not very many
places you could go downtown Santa Barbara is
probably the furthest that any of them would
go um and so they're kind of confined to a very
niche community that is filled with other people
that is more or less similar age And you have
majority of them not necessarily doing a lot
of like, you know, meaningful engagement with
people outside of that particular community.
Like even if you got a job, it was probably going
to be something on or close to the campus working
part time. Right. Or doing some work study in
that area or doing an internship at a company
that has had long experience working with the
students of that particular college. Right. But
at community colleges, these students are kind
of spread all over Los Angeles. They're just
coming from, I mean, it's more or less regional,
but, you know, Pasadena City College, like you
go a little bit west, it is very different than
if you go a little bit east versus if you go
a little bit south, right? These areas are very,
very different. So you're getting people from
all swaths of life. And I think that's part of
the thing I liked about the students. They were,
because they were not isolated and they aren't,
I mean, I should say present tense because that's
what I'm teaching. Because they're not isolated
in this small niche community, they seem to have
a little bit more grounding in reality. Like,
it just felt like I was talking to a real person
from, you know. from life, just, just hanging
out in the neighborhood or something. Right.
I love that I have students of all different
ages. I love it when I get students that are
in their fifties and sixties. I love that I get
a lot of veterans, which I never got really.
I got ROTC students, but not really like veterans
that went off to like Afghanistan and came back.
Right. Like I don't get veterans like I do at
community colleges. And so it was, it was very,
not only refreshing, but I, I just suddenly felt
like, Oh, I think I figured out why it is I seem
to have clicked with the transfer students more.
It's because even I remember even in college,
I was. Not always acting like it and definitely
not mature in any way, but I had kind of like
an old soul, right? I connected with people that
were older, more mature, more grown, had more
life experience. I was kind of, I kind of gravitated
towards it. And so when I'm at the community
college campus, I feel more like this is like
the type of people that I like to engage with.
I love that there's much more genuine diversity.
That I'm hearing perspectives from students that
with all kinds of experiences that I just never
would have gotten at a four year college. So
I'm not going to lie. I like it a lot more here.
I like it a lot more here. I feel like I found
my home. I feel like I found the right fit. I
feel like they made a great decision in hiring
me because this is the right fit for me. And
I love the students here. And I'm not going to
lie to you. I like them a lot more than I like
the students at the four -year colleges. That
doesn't mean that the students are in any sense
better. I'm not trying to compare. But I think
it does help me gain some. insight as to like
in thinking about why it helps me gain some insight
into what a lot of these college campuses these
four -year college campuses are ones that are
kind of isolated where it's like a college town
right so everything all the business around it
revolves around the college right when I go to
those areas I can feel the difference I can feel
the difference in the student body and the kind
of the life experience of the student body and
I think that that kind of might be helpful in
making better sense of why it is that a lot of
the students that went straight from high school
to a four -year college in one of these little
bubbles and then go off into the real world have
a real difficult time adjusting there's a period
of adjusting and learning how to be quote -unquote
an adult right adulting right learning how to
navigate work life and how to be a professional
i wonder if part of the reason that that's a
little bit more difficult is that That four years
in college, they were disconnected from it altogether,
right? I imagine, I don't know, I'm curious.
Somebody should do a study on this. I'm curious,
like I know that NYU, for instance, New York
University, the campus is just New York City,
is Manhattan, right? Because their buildings
are just kind of like all over the city. It's
not in like an enclosed space or campus as opposed
to like, you know, Columbia that's in the same
state where it's a little bit more of an enclosed
campus. Somebody should do a study on this. See
if there's a difference in the student population,
how they're perceived, whether they adjust better
to, you know, work life after college. Because
it wouldn't surprise me. I mean, the data would
merely be backing up the impressions I'm getting.
But all this to say, maybe it's because I'm kind
of like a grown adult parent now. I just like
my community college students better. No offense
to all the rest of y 'all, but I like them a
lot. And I think I'm going to really enjoy spending
the rest of my life teaching in this particular.
college.