WEBVTT 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.899 So I used to be an orientation counselor at UCLA. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:41.719 It was like a summer program where there were, 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:45.719 you know, elder students that were there to help 00:00:45.719 --> 00:00:48.659 students transition into the university life. 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:53.619 We handled the counseling for both the ones straight 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:55.840 from high school, the first years, as well as 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:57.659 transfer students who are coming in from community 00:00:57.659 --> 00:01:00.369 colleges. having had a certain number of courses 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:03.049 under their belt. We would help them learn how 00:01:03.049 --> 00:01:04.549 things are done at the particular university 00:01:04.549 --> 00:01:06.349 and then help them enroll in their first set 00:01:06.349 --> 00:01:09.489 of classes, as well as give some academic advice 00:01:09.489 --> 00:01:12.349 and connect them up with various resources. I 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:15.290 really love the job. It allowed me to stay on 00:01:15.290 --> 00:01:18.030 the college campus in the summer when I didn't 00:01:18.030 --> 00:01:20.709 want to necessarily go back home. And I got paid 00:01:20.709 --> 00:01:24.049 a little bit. It was small, but it was sufficient. 00:01:24.709 --> 00:01:26.980 And like I said. the bigger benefit was that 00:01:26.980 --> 00:01:28.480 I got to stay on the college campus, which was 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:31.920 a lot of fun. But, you know, I'm sharing this 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:33.719 story with you because I'm sharing this information 00:01:33.719 --> 00:01:36.579 because there's something that we always did 00:01:36.579 --> 00:01:40.480 at the end of each session with these students. 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:43.819 With the first years, it was a three -day program. 00:01:44.359 --> 00:01:46.579 And on the third day, the students would write 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:51.780 a review on their counselor. It was kept anonymous, 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:54.700 so you didn't know who said what. And then same 00:01:54.700 --> 00:01:56.540 thing with the transfer students. And then it 00:01:56.540 --> 00:01:58.480 was like rating your experiences, right? Like, 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:00.459 how did you, did you feel like your counselor 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:02.040 like helped you? Or I forget exactly what the 00:02:02.040 --> 00:02:04.239 questions were, but I do remember one thing, 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:07.680 which was that for some reason, I often got higher 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.960 marks from the transfer students than I did from 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.240 the first year students, the ones straight from 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:15.939 high school. Like it was noticeably statistically 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:19.759 significant difference. And it was kind of odd 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:21.919 because I think for most of the other counselors, 00:02:22.650 --> 00:02:24.710 It was the other way around. They actually got 00:02:24.710 --> 00:02:27.990 better marks by their first -year students than 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:31.949 by the transfer students. And I didn't necessarily 00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:36.129 understand exactly why that was until I started 00:02:36.129 --> 00:02:39.849 teaching at a community college. And then I realized 00:02:39.849 --> 00:02:43.169 something. Damn it, I like these community college 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:47.030 students way more than I do any of these students 00:02:47.030 --> 00:02:48.849 that went straight from high school to a four 00:02:48.849 --> 00:02:52.490 -year college. And I don't know exactly what 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:54.889 it is, but I have some guesses as to why. Now, 00:02:54.949 --> 00:02:58.110 I'm not trying to offend the students I've taught 00:02:58.110 --> 00:03:01.530 in the past at, you know, UC Santa Barbara or 00:03:01.530 --> 00:03:03.550 at Villanova. I'm not saying that y 'all are 00:03:03.550 --> 00:03:05.490 not great students, right? I'm just saying that 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:07.169 I seem to like my community college students 00:03:07.169 --> 00:03:11.250 more. And I think I have some ideas as to exactly 00:03:11.250 --> 00:03:16.879 why. So first thing. It started actually when 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.500 I was interviewing for my current position at 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.360 Pasadena City College. I remember coming, I physically 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:24.919 flew all the way from Pennsylvania to do a face 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:27.439 -to -face interview, even though they offered 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:29.979 me the chance to do a Zoom interview. I was like, 00:03:30.020 --> 00:03:32.639 I'll spend the money to do a face -to -face. 00:03:32.939 --> 00:03:34.800 And I got to campus because I wanted to check 00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.620 it out. I'd actually never been to Pasadena City 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:39.539 College at that point. And I stepped on the campus 00:03:39.539 --> 00:03:42.590 and then... And immediately I felt something 00:03:42.590 --> 00:03:46.889 I haven't felt in years in all of my studying, 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:49.870 whether it was in Boston or in, you know, teaching 00:03:49.870 --> 00:03:54.569 at Villanova or, you know, even at UC Santa Barbara. 00:03:54.710 --> 00:03:59.530 You know, I said this to my partner at the time, 00:03:59.530 --> 00:04:01.849 like I called her up and said, you know, I feel 00:04:01.849 --> 00:04:05.030 like I'm at home. This feels like home. And I 00:04:05.030 --> 00:04:06.969 was trying to figure out exactly why it felt 00:04:06.969 --> 00:04:10.629 like home. And I think I kind of have some ideas 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:15.469 as to why. For one, it was the population of 00:04:15.469 --> 00:04:18.850 the students. This was a big one. I mean, it 00:04:18.850 --> 00:04:21.649 was the population that community colleges serve. 00:04:21.970 --> 00:04:24.810 Because community colleges don't have any screening 00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:27.910 for minimum GPA or anything like that in order 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:30.889 for you to take classes here, you get people 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.610 from all walks of life. You get veterans. You 00:04:33.610 --> 00:04:36.800 get... immigrants you get undocumented students 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.800 you get people from a range of you know socioeconomic 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.939 backgrounds you get a lot definitely a lot more 00:04:44.939 --> 00:04:51.220 racial ethnic diversity and it was also in California 00:04:51.220 --> 00:04:53.699 I think that also made a difference right so 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:56.360 something about it felt familiar it felt kind 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:58.540 of like how it felt growing up in San Bernardino 00:04:58.540 --> 00:05:03.120 County where I was surrounded by the same sort 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:07.699 of demographic, right? But I think the other 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:10.680 thing that I liked about it was that because 00:05:10.680 --> 00:05:14.100 it was a community college, you weren't isolated. 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:16.779 The students and the faculty were not isolated 00:05:16.779 --> 00:05:21.819 in a little bubble that is the modern four -year 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:25.519 college campus, right? I remember when I was 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.850 studying at UCLA, I was pretty much confined 00:05:30.850 --> 00:05:35.610 to that Westwood, Brentwood area, right? You're 00:05:35.610 --> 00:05:37.610 kind of confined to that area. You might have 00:05:37.610 --> 00:05:38.990 a car and you might be able to travel places, 00:05:39.089 --> 00:05:41.129 but you would do that for, you know, let's say 00:05:41.129 --> 00:05:44.050 going out to eat or having fun. You wouldn't 00:05:44.050 --> 00:05:47.300 necessarily do that for work. let's say right 00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:50.279 you would usually stay within that West LA area 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:52.420 right and it was pretty similar for my students 00:05:52.420 --> 00:05:54.639 at um UC Santa Barbara too there's not very many 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:57.240 places you could go downtown Santa Barbara is 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:58.860 probably the furthest that any of them would 00:05:58.860 --> 00:06:03.100 go um and so they're kind of confined to a very 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:07.500 niche community that is filled with other people 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:11.589 that is more or less similar age And you have 00:06:11.589 --> 00:06:14.790 majority of them not necessarily doing a lot 00:06:14.790 --> 00:06:18.350 of like, you know, meaningful engagement with 00:06:18.350 --> 00:06:20.250 people outside of that particular community. 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:21.870 Like even if you got a job, it was probably going 00:06:21.870 --> 00:06:25.250 to be something on or close to the campus working 00:06:25.250 --> 00:06:27.490 part time. Right. Or doing some work study in 00:06:27.490 --> 00:06:29.470 that area or doing an internship at a company 00:06:29.470 --> 00:06:33.129 that has had long experience working with the 00:06:33.129 --> 00:06:36.149 students of that particular college. Right. But 00:06:36.149 --> 00:06:37.769 at community colleges, these students are kind 00:06:37.769 --> 00:06:39.910 of spread all over Los Angeles. They're just 00:06:39.910 --> 00:06:42.810 coming from, I mean, it's more or less regional, 00:06:42.829 --> 00:06:46.610 but, you know, Pasadena City College, like you 00:06:46.610 --> 00:06:48.930 go a little bit west, it is very different than 00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:50.970 if you go a little bit east versus if you go 00:06:50.970 --> 00:06:53.329 a little bit south, right? These areas are very, 00:06:53.389 --> 00:06:54.709 very different. So you're getting people from 00:06:54.709 --> 00:06:57.589 all swaths of life. And I think that's part of 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:00.029 the thing I liked about the students. They were, 00:07:00.189 --> 00:07:03.069 because they were not isolated and they aren't, 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:04.569 I mean, I should say present tense because that's 00:07:04.569 --> 00:07:07.389 what I'm teaching. Because they're not isolated 00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:11.370 in this small niche community, they seem to have 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:13.910 a little bit more grounding in reality. Like, 00:07:13.930 --> 00:07:16.870 it just felt like I was talking to a real person 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:21.370 from, you know. from life, just, just hanging 00:07:21.370 --> 00:07:23.110 out in the neighborhood or something. Right. 00:07:23.250 --> 00:07:25.110 I love that I have students of all different 00:07:25.110 --> 00:07:27.129 ages. I love it when I get students that are 00:07:27.129 --> 00:07:29.910 in their fifties and sixties. I love that I get 00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:31.970 a lot of veterans, which I never got really. 00:07:32.269 --> 00:07:34.889 I got ROTC students, but not really like veterans 00:07:34.889 --> 00:07:36.790 that went off to like Afghanistan and came back. 00:07:36.870 --> 00:07:39.250 Right. Like I don't get veterans like I do at 00:07:39.250 --> 00:07:43.930 community colleges. And so it was, it was very, 00:07:44.050 --> 00:07:47.050 not only refreshing, but I, I just suddenly felt 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:50.220 like, Oh, I think I figured out why it is I seem 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:53.319 to have clicked with the transfer students more. 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:55.720 It's because even I remember even in college, 00:07:55.779 --> 00:08:00.129 I was. Not always acting like it and definitely 00:08:00.129 --> 00:08:03.529 not mature in any way, but I had kind of like 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:07.629 an old soul, right? I connected with people that 00:08:07.629 --> 00:08:11.430 were older, more mature, more grown, had more 00:08:11.430 --> 00:08:13.610 life experience. I was kind of, I kind of gravitated 00:08:13.610 --> 00:08:17.149 towards it. And so when I'm at the community 00:08:17.149 --> 00:08:20.750 college campus, I feel more like this is like 00:08:20.750 --> 00:08:23.529 the type of people that I like to engage with. 00:08:23.589 --> 00:08:26.389 I love that there's much more genuine diversity. 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:29.560 That I'm hearing perspectives from students that 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:31.899 with all kinds of experiences that I just never 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:35.399 would have gotten at a four year college. So 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:38.580 I'm not going to lie. I like it a lot more here. 00:08:39.070 --> 00:08:41.289 I like it a lot more here. I feel like I found 00:08:41.289 --> 00:08:43.750 my home. I feel like I found the right fit. I 00:08:43.750 --> 00:08:45.830 feel like they made a great decision in hiring 00:08:45.830 --> 00:08:49.389 me because this is the right fit for me. And 00:08:49.389 --> 00:08:52.230 I love the students here. And I'm not going to 00:08:52.230 --> 00:08:54.590 lie to you. I like them a lot more than I like 00:08:54.590 --> 00:08:57.870 the students at the four -year colleges. That 00:08:57.870 --> 00:09:01.149 doesn't mean that the students are in any sense 00:09:01.149 --> 00:09:05.629 better. I'm not trying to compare. But I think 00:09:05.629 --> 00:09:09.129 it does help me gain some. insight as to like 00:09:09.129 --> 00:09:11.509 in thinking about why it helps me gain some insight 00:09:11.509 --> 00:09:14.149 into what a lot of these college campuses these 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:15.929 four -year college campuses are ones that are 00:09:15.929 --> 00:09:18.350 kind of isolated where it's like a college town 00:09:18.350 --> 00:09:21.049 right so everything all the business around it 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:23.509 revolves around the college right when I go to 00:09:23.509 --> 00:09:26.210 those areas I can feel the difference I can feel 00:09:26.210 --> 00:09:28.529 the difference in the student body and the kind 00:09:28.529 --> 00:09:31.690 of the life experience of the student body and 00:09:31.690 --> 00:09:37.169 I think that that kind of might be helpful in 00:09:37.169 --> 00:09:41.009 making better sense of why it is that a lot of 00:09:41.009 --> 00:09:42.809 the students that went straight from high school 00:09:42.809 --> 00:09:44.330 to a four -year college in one of these little 00:09:44.330 --> 00:09:47.710 bubbles and then go off into the real world have 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:50.769 a real difficult time adjusting there's a period 00:09:50.769 --> 00:09:53.190 of adjusting and learning how to be quote -unquote 00:09:53.190 --> 00:09:56.730 an adult right adulting right learning how to 00:09:56.730 --> 00:09:59.909 navigate work life and how to be a professional 00:09:59.909 --> 00:10:02.750 i wonder if part of the reason that that's a 00:10:02.750 --> 00:10:06.080 little bit more difficult is that That four years 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.779 in college, they were disconnected from it altogether, 00:10:09.139 --> 00:10:12.039 right? I imagine, I don't know, I'm curious. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.500 Somebody should do a study on this. I'm curious, 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:15.779 like I know that NYU, for instance, New York 00:10:15.779 --> 00:10:19.100 University, the campus is just New York City, 00:10:19.220 --> 00:10:21.980 is Manhattan, right? Because their buildings 00:10:21.980 --> 00:10:23.559 are just kind of like all over the city. It's 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.019 not in like an enclosed space or campus as opposed 00:10:26.019 --> 00:10:28.940 to like, you know, Columbia that's in the same 00:10:28.940 --> 00:10:31.399 state where it's a little bit more of an enclosed 00:10:31.399 --> 00:10:35.320 campus. Somebody should do a study on this. See 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:37.299 if there's a difference in the student population, 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:39.820 how they're perceived, whether they adjust better 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:43.679 to, you know, work life after college. Because 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:46.840 it wouldn't surprise me. I mean, the data would 00:10:46.840 --> 00:10:48.740 merely be backing up the impressions I'm getting. 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:52.539 But all this to say, maybe it's because I'm kind 00:10:52.539 --> 00:10:55.419 of like a grown adult parent now. I just like 00:10:55.419 --> 00:10:57.059 my community college students better. No offense 00:10:57.059 --> 00:10:59.019 to all the rest of y 'all, but I like them a 00:10:59.019 --> 00:11:01.580 lot. And I think I'm going to really enjoy spending 00:11:01.580 --> 00:11:03.919 the rest of my life teaching in this particular. 00:11:04.730 --> 00:11:05.149 college.