I didn't get my doctorate with dreams of teaching community college. I thought I would go into pre- & in-service teacher training in a School of Education, but the chance to start a brand new commuity college in a system I both believed in and had benefitted from (CUNY) had great appeal. Getting hired at the then-New Community College was nothing if not an act of kismet--I feel I truly belong in the community college classroom.

Community college is a great mix of students from all sorts of backgrounds (educational, racial, ethinic, linguistic, socio-economic) who come together in a classroom because they believe education will propel them further in life. As a teacher, who else would you want in your classroom? Who else would you want to teach? Not many of my students are at Guttman mindlessly. They come with a purpose, and even if they are not "college ready" by someone else's definition, they show up because they believe in education.

I get that.

I have wondered if community college is where I will spend my career. Having come from a dozen years of teaching high school, it feels like a natural progression. I used to believe that I would spend some time in community college and then I would like to land, eventually, in a School of Education, but recently I am not so sure. Being a public school teacher today is a hard sell: The students are always great but the politics, the educational reform, and the high-stakes testing are painful. I can always sell the craft of writing, the skills of being a good reader, the essentials of critical thinking about education and work, and the beauty and value of art to my community college students. And I believe in what I teach, which makes going to work very rewarding.

There has been a lot of press on community college lately, especially in light of Obama's proposal to make it free. Please read a few of the selected articles below if you'd like to learn more about the work we do and the importance of it for many individuals:

Tom Hanks on his two years at community college

One student's plan to start at community college and finish at NYU

And a three-part NY Times series on community college:

Community College Students Face a Long Road to Graduation

How can community colleges get some money?!

Raising Ambitions: The Challenges of Teaching at Community College