I?m agnostic about the benefits of high school students leaving their campuses to take college-level classes off campus. But I did find one objection a little strange.
The latest U.S. News includes the following passage:
Bruce Jones, assistant director of admission at Whitman College, a small liberal arts school in Walla Walla, Wash., doesn’t think it’s generally a good idea for students from top high schools to take off-campus classes. “We’re looking for community members who will take and add value to our school,” Jones says. “I’m concerned if a high school kid is abandoning their own community in their final high school year to go to a community college.”
Abandoning her community? Isn?t the student simply trying to improve her education? Isn?t that the point of going to school?
If college leaders worry more about community-building than education, they lend credence to George Leef?s argument that college is oversold.
