[legitster]

Somewhat counterintuitively, I personally found that the quality of instruction at community college vastly exceeded that at a university.

Most cc teachers were not tenured - they were often experienced industry professionals who taught as a hobby. And the ones that were prized and retained were the ones who had exceptional teaching/lecture ability.

At a university so many professors are basically just the middle-management of academia - hired because of their research or experience managing grad students.

[taftster]

This is exactly right. At a community college, you're likely to find an adjunct professor who is an expert in their field teaching on the side more for the fun and altruistic aspects of education.

At a normal university, you end up taking classes from "professional" professors with no actual industry experience who are unlikely to be native English speakers. These professors copy & paste their notes, assignments and exams, cheating their way through teaching, hardly able to go off script or explain a concept beyond their intended lecture area. I've literally taken several classes (at the graduate level even) where the entire curriculum, lecture notes, assignments, exams were copy-pasted from other teachers or schools.

Of course, I believe there are some highly reputable universities and reputable professors. But the vast majority of PhD professors teaching at middle to low tier schools are hardly really teaching.

I'll take a class from an adjunct who is passionate about teaching even if they are somewhat just winging it. At least their heart and experience are in the right place.