[asdfman123]

> You can go to a community college for much less money and all kids aren't required to go to College to earn a good living

Do you hear that sound? It is the sound of ten million wealthy upper middle class parents simultaneously recoiling in horror.

But seriously, parents that do these sorts of things have spent the last 20 years of their life ensuring their kids stay on the maximum-privilege track, and they're not going to quit now.

[TomVDB]

My daughter decided to defer going to ‘real’ college for a year to figure out what she wanted to do: why spend all the money when you haven’t figured out things anyway?

She enrolled at a highly rated local community college and signed up for some difficult classes and she was very much not impressed: the pace of instruction was very slow, the students unmotivated (not doing homework, not participating during class), and the overall level of instruction often easier than what she had in high school.

It’s an excellent way to get some garden variety general courses off you plate at low cost and low effort, but, in her case, it was not a substitution of the real thing.

[caseymarquis]

Having attended both types of college, I actually had the opposite experience. At the community college, I was taught entry level classes by PHds who taught purely for enjoyment. The students were largely very motivated and professional. The university I attended was decent (top 60s), but all my direct interactions were with graduate TAs, many of whom struggled with the English language. The students mostly just wanted to party and constantly needed their hands held.

Most likely I just got lucky. My main point is that anecdata isn't very good data.

[romwell]

>by PHds who taught purely for enjoyment

Yeeeeeah, right.

Signed, PhD working in the industry.

[astura]

I'd have to agree, I took a couple community college classes over the summer (I was enrolled in a 4-year college) to get some credits out of the way.

WOW, the classes were so much easier than what I would expect from high school classes. It was honestly shocking they were giving out college credit.

[asdfman123]

I took Spanish at community college and it was a breeze. I rushed through all my assignments in class and spent the rest of the time spacing out. Felt like middle school all over again.

[TomVDB]

I had forgotten about my Spanish course at the local community college.

During finals of Spanish 103, we had to make some small conversation. Some students couldn’t string 4 words together.

At the end of the test, the teacher says “you all get an A” and that was that.

[akhilcacharya]

> It is the sound of ten million wealthy upper middle class parents simultaneously recoiling in horror.

I went to a community college during high school, and this seems like the stigma is the reason why more people don't do dual enrollment.

[asdfman123]

Oh yeah. This is a game in which people are competing for social status. Sure, you can buy a nice car and you can buy a nice house, but you can't buy your children's way into... actually, scratch that. It's just much harder.

But having smart kids is the crowning achievement for these parents. I feel terribly sorry for kids caught in the middle of all of it.

I went to Stanford, but my parents didn't give a damn about any of that. Get this -- they taught me to value knowledge and a good work ethic, and I got in because I was really good at standardized tests.

However, I don't think it's been a big benefit for me because I wasn't a top student there, and I got off the hyper-achievement train early on in my twenties. I probably would have been just as okay professionally if I had taken that full scholarship to Texas A&M that I got through my standardized test-taking ability.

[akhilcacharya]

Oof. I wasn't expecting a Stanford flex here.

I wish I was the smart kid. It's not like I even got a full ride!

[asdfman123]

Don't worry, I'm not a very smart programmer. I wanted to be a scientist.

[kd0amg]

Well... CLC didn't offer me much that I wanted but couldn't get at Stevenson anyway. I was dual enrolled for an introductory philosophy class, but within my eventual undergrad majors, Stevenson offered at least as much coursework depth.