To: The California State House, The California State Senate, and Governor Gavin Newsom
Community Colleges for the Community
Allow life-long education in physical education, visual arts, and performing arts. There should be no limit on the number of times one can take a class in community college.
Why is this important?
The arguments in favor of limiting enrollement are fallacious. The new policy states:
Active participatory courses (such as physical education, visual arts, and performing arts) that are related in content are limited in the number of enrollments. Most individual courses that were previously repeatable no longer are and further restrictions apply. The new policy extends retroactively to your entire academic history.
Community colleges used to be about the community and life-long learning. With the obesity epidemic should we really be prohibiting people from taking P.E. classes? I am not allowed to take swimming classes because 20 years ago I swam at our community college when I was on the high school swim team because my high school did not have a pool.
There is no way one can learn an art or any physical skill in one semester. Atheletic and creative activities can help one stay physically and mentally healthy into old age.
Obviously students who need the classes to transfer to four year institutions and those who have not taken the classes before should have priority, but these people are not getting to take the classes now either, because without people like me re-taking classes, there is not enough interest and the class gets cancelled. If there are 30 students taking the class instead of 20 because 10 of them are repeating, how is that not bringing in more money? Is it the goal of California to just keep all these campuses empty without classes? The cost of maintaining the campus and administration are better supported by more people paying tuition than they are when students are denied the opportunity to enroll. The institutions are more sustainable with fuller enrollment.
Active participatory courses (such as physical education, visual arts, and performing arts) that are related in content are limited in the number of enrollments. Most individual courses that were previously repeatable no longer are and further restrictions apply. The new policy extends retroactively to your entire academic history.
Community colleges used to be about the community and life-long learning. With the obesity epidemic should we really be prohibiting people from taking P.E. classes? I am not allowed to take swimming classes because 20 years ago I swam at our community college when I was on the high school swim team because my high school did not have a pool.
There is no way one can learn an art or any physical skill in one semester. Atheletic and creative activities can help one stay physically and mentally healthy into old age.
Obviously students who need the classes to transfer to four year institutions and those who have not taken the classes before should have priority, but these people are not getting to take the classes now either, because without people like me re-taking classes, there is not enough interest and the class gets cancelled. If there are 30 students taking the class instead of 20 because 10 of them are repeating, how is that not bringing in more money? Is it the goal of California to just keep all these campuses empty without classes? The cost of maintaining the campus and administration are better supported by more people paying tuition than they are when students are denied the opportunity to enroll. The institutions are more sustainable with fuller enrollment.