{"id":408,"date":"2015-09-11T17:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T17:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/?p=408"},"modified":"2015-11-04T14:56:20","modified_gmt":"2015-11-04T14:56:20","slug":"the-value-of-a-community-college-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/2015\/09\/11\/the-value-of-a-community-college-education\/","title":{"rendered":"The Value of A Community College Education"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
What helps community college students “hold steady” in pursuit of a degree despite obstacles? Photo via Associated Students of Lane Community College<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. What led you to do this research?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the U.S., the College for All movement produced a cultural expectation that American youth will go to college. Yet millions of students do not earn a degree, and many students beginning at community colleges spend years making little or no progress toward a credential. Existing research about how disadvantaged students\u2019 goals change over time largely relied on assumptions about the social-psychological process entailed in falling short of college aspirations. We wanted to understand the experiences of students who \u201chold steady,\u201d continuing to plan a degree despite hitting roadblocks along the way.<\/p>\n

2. What should everyone know about what you found?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While policy debates about the importance of college largely focus on returns in the labor market, our respondents also understood college-going as having moral<\/em> and expressive<\/em> value. Of course, seeking a degree reflects the pragmatic pursuit of middle-class jobs and lifestyles. However, the women we studied also used college plans to respond to a cultural imperative to strive and be ambitious. It is critically important to have strong community colleges that offer effective institutionalized pathways to realize ambition and provide students with socially-recognized identities.<\/p>\n

3. What are you going to do next on this topic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kelly is interested in how young adults abandon their college aspirations. Holding steady provides a form of moral equity for disadvantaged students. Those who let go leave behind a valuable source of identity and worth.\u00a0 Nicole will study how potential returners make decisions about re-enrollment. As for-profit institutions and distance learning technologies diversify programs available to returners, busy adults have new options to choose from. How do these choices affect their chances for success?<\/p>\n

You can read the full articles here:<\/p>\n

Kelly Nielsen<\/a>, “Fake It\u2019til You Make It”: Why Community College Students\u2019 Aspirations \u2018\u2018Hold Steady\u2019<\/a>. Sociology of Education<\/a>,\u00a02015.<\/i><\/p>\n

Nicole M. Deterding<\/a>,\u00a0Instrumental and Expressive Education: College Planning in the Face of Poverty<\/a>. Sociology of Education<\/a>,\u00a02015.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. What led you to do this research? In the U.S., the College for All movement produced a cultural expectation that American youth will go to college. Yet millions of students do not earn a degree, and many students beginning at community colleges spend years making little or no progress toward a credential. Existing research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1952,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35970],"tags":[36192,28783,78,347,13,4208,36194],"class_list":["post-408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3-questions","tag-holding-steady","tag-community-college","tag-higher-education","tag-identity","tag-inequality","tag-labor-market","tag-returns-to-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1952"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":437,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408\/revisions\/437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/edsociety\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}