[bsder]

> The professors were underpaid and many of them didn't care -- some did care and were excellent teachers, but a lot of them were bitter about their career outcomes and just went through the motions.

Given how little it pays to teach in a community college, I'm surprised there is any teacher who didn't care.

[darpa_escapee]

This was my experience. I started in a community college, and my professors were there after retiring from industry, so they had little use for the meager salary they earned. The other professors worked at nearby universities, as well.

They genuinely liked to teach and loved it when they could get their students to care about a subject as much as they did themselves. You could tell they did it out of passion, and moreover, for the students.