Making a connection

College courses benefit high school students

The days when a high school graduate could land a lucrative job without any additional training are gone. It is almost a given today that students seeking any type of career will need to continue their formal education. Despite this trend, higher education has not taken great strides to become more accessible to those who could benefit from a college education but cannot afford it. Many high school students do not even consider college because they were not encouraged by their parents and teachers to pursue higher education. A new partnership between Wayne County Community College and the Belleville and Romulus high schools is attempting to help solve this dilemma. The partnership between the community college and high schools allows juniors and seniors to earn college credits in vocational areas such as heating ventilation and air conditioning instillation and repair. The partnership gives students another chance to get ahead. The goal of making students job-ready in a shorter amount of time is not only more efficient but opens up opportunities to some students who might not have had them otherwise.

Community colleges are ideally positioned to pick up the slack and take on a role that better fits a community's needs. Rather than waiting for students to come to them, the partnership puts Wayne County Community College in an active role in recruiting students. About a dozen high school students currently attend at least two morning classes on the five campuses the college has throughout Metro Detroit. Once the two-year program is complete, students earn their high school diploma and are just 15 credits away from receiving an associate's degree. To enroll selected students into the program, the school districts absorb the cost of about $2,000 a year for tuition, books and transportation. This program has allowed the high schools to expand their vocational programs without spending much money.

A partnership between high schools and colleges is not a new idea but a highly underused one. For example, Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School offers a program for juniors and seniors to attend Washtenaw County Beauty College and work toward their cosmetology degree while completing their high schools diplomas. Washtenaw Technical Middle College also serves as a high school and vocational school in one. While the WCCC-Belleville/Romulus high schools education sharing program is new to the district, administrators should recognize the diamond in the rough they have on their hands and jump at the chance to expand the current program to make it available to more students and offer a wider selection of classes.

Pioneer, Belleville and Romulus high schools are using their community college partnerships to track students into blue-collar jobs. While not everyone has the ability or interest to attend a major university and become a professional, these options should still be open to those students. Education is empowering; students who planned on taking jobs that do not require much training may not have been aware of their talent and interest in other fields because they were simply not exposed to it. Community college partnerships with high schools give students - especially those at high schools that do not offer Advanced Placement classes - not only a better chance of succeeding in the workplace, but a second chance at their education. It offers the opportunity to open and challenge a high schooler's vision of their own future.

12-11-98